


Easy Love (Japanese Ver.)

by half_rice



Series: 97 line boys uni AU [2]
Category: GOT7, NCT (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: 97 line boys is lyf, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fake/Pretend Relationship, GAY RIGHTS i know im late for pride month but GAY RIGHTS, Homophobia, M/M, THE JOHNTEN IS STRONG IN THIS ONE, enough side characters to build an army, enough side ships to build a fleet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-06-05 11:37:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15169922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/half_rice/pseuds/half_rice
Summary: (the blockbuster sequel toEasy Love)One year after they get Jungkook and Yugyeom back together, the 97-line boys must team up against a new common enemy: systemic homophobia.When the university comes up with a new school policy that bans PDA only for same-sex couples, our boys are pissed the fuck off and retaliate by BEING GAY. Expect a lot of Dick Energy™, Oreo balls, useless meetings, woke bitches, begrudgingly contributing to the capitalist machine, and Fake Dating, among other things.





	1. Hello (Japanese Ver.)

**Author's Note:**

> i said this wouldn't be a series but here i am, making it a series, i'm so Flaky ahahsj
> 
> ___  
> this one is for twitter user [@nayutagf](https://twitter.com/nayutagf) ive owed u a yuwin fic since yuta's birthday last year so,,, I WENT ALL OUT BITCH <3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Come on, guys,” Mingyu’s pretty much begging at this point. “We’ve got like five working brains among the eight of us. No one has any suggestions?”
> 
> More silence.
> 
> Winwin stops making sandwiches and looks up with a dreamy expression on his face. “We could protest.”
> 
> Everyone turns to him with deeply worried looks.
> 
> “Winwin?” Jaehyun asks, putting a friendly hand on Winwin’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

It’s lunch time – the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the next classes aren’t for another solid hour, and Bambam is making a hell of a lot of noise over… something.

“Okay, okay, everyone pipe the fuck down,” Mingyu says, slamming one hand on the stone picnic table, instantly regretting it. “Ow, fuck.”

“Guys.” Jaehyun narrows his eyes at Bambam and Bambam alone. “Have some respect.”

Yugyeom stuffs a slice of plain bread into Bambam’s mouth to shut him up.

“Thank you,” Mingyu sighs, then looks around the table at the seven other guys seated around the table. He lets out another sigh. “We are gathered here today-”

“Bitch you make it sound like we’re at a funeral.” Bambam says, somehow having swallowed the entire slice of bread in a matter of seconds.

“Bitch don’t interrupt me!” Mingyu whines. “Hao, make him stop.”

Minghao just glowers at Bambam, who lowers his head almost reverentially.

“Thank you.” Mingyu clears his throat. “As I was saying, we’re all here today because-”

“Because we eat lunch here every day?” Jungkook asks.

Yugyeom doesn’t have the power to stuff _his_ mouth with bread, so he just shoots Jungkook a deeply disappointed look.

“Okay, can everyone just shut up until I’m done talking? Please? For fuck’s sake,” Mingyu sinks back into his seat. “Someone else take over this fucking meeting-”

“ _Meeting_?” Jungkook makes a face. “I thought we were just having lunch.”

“Haven’t you been reading the gc?” Seokmin asks, frowning.

“I told you about this yesterday after dinner,” Yugyeom whispers, nudging Jungkook with his elbow.

“What?”

Mingyu rubs his temples. “Whatever! You’ll get it as we go along!”

“Anyway, as Mingyu was saying,” Minghao starts, and nobody dares to cut him off. “We’re here to talk about the new school policy.”

“The anti-gay policy?” Bambam asks.

“Actually, based on the school rules,” Jaehyun says. “It should apply to the hets too.”

“But they don’t enforce it on them,” Mingyu grumbles. “For _some_ reason.”

“Hold up.” Jungkook puts two hands up as if to freeze the conversation. “What are you guys talking about? _What_ school rule?”

Yugyeom heaves a very long, loud sigh. “I told you about this last night…”

“It’s the one against public displays of affection,” Mingyu explains with saint-like patience. “Students aren’t allowed to hold hands or kiss or whatever on school grounds in keeping with the “school’s image.” But they’re only stopping the gay couples, so…”

“So they’re assholes.” Jungkook says.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“So what are we going to do about that?” Jungkook asks, wrapping an arm lazily around Yugyeom’s waist.

“Hold up on the PDA, for starters,” Yugyeom says, gently plucking Jungkook’s hand off of him. “It’s counted as a minor offense.”

Jungkook frowns. “A _minor_ offense? So it’s no big deal?”

“You still get called to the discipline office for minor offenses.” Mingyu says.

“And you get shunted off the varsity team.” Jaehyun adds, looking pointedly at the varsity jacket around Jungkook’s shoulders.

Jungkook pales. “W- Wha- How can they _do_ that?”

“They can and they have.” Minghao says.

“Seungkwan got kicked off the volleyball team last Tuesday.” Seokmin pouts.

“For being _gay_?” Jungkook looks like he’s about to pass out. “B- But they can’t- It’s not _his_ fault-”

“Calm down, Kookie,” Yugyeom slips a hand onto Jungkook’s thigh to rub it soothingly. “That’s why we’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do.”

“Yeah, so, about that…” Mingyu says, looking around the table, but everyone looks back at him with blank stares. “What _are_ we going to do?”

There’s no sound for the next five minutes but the light scrape of Winwin spreading tuna spread onto plain bread.

“Come on, guys,” Mingyu’s pretty much begging at this point. “We’ve got like five working brains among the eight of us. No one has any suggestions?”

More silence.

Winwin stops making sandwiches and looks up with a dreamy expression on his face. “We could protest.”

Everyone turns to him with deeply worried looks.

“Winwin?” Jaehyun asks, putting a friendly hand on Winwin’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

 

The truth is that Winwin is more than okay. He’s _beyond_ okay – He’s transcended okay. He’s _super duper_ okay.

Winwin always goes to school through the main entrance with the fancy tree-lined avenue – the tourist entrance – even though he’s a sophomore now and well aware that the side entrances are a lot more convenient for him. He doesn’t mind the extra four kilometers he has to bike, or the fact that the pollen from the trees gives him awful allergies in the spring.

That morning Winwin had slowed down to let a cat dart across the avenue, then sped up again, heading right towards a crowd of picketing students. This is the other reason why people use the side entrances – they don’t have to wade through the protests.

Winwin had slowed down again, to walk his bike around the outside edge of the crowd, mumbling “excuse me” in a low voice as he’d tried to avoid hitting anyone.

“IT’S 2018!” A guy had been screaming into a megaphone from where he’d been standing on top of a car. It was still technically spring but here he was, sweating through a blindingly rainbow sleeveless shirt, and his hair’s been dyed an aggressive purple with a few streaks of purple dripping down his neck. He is, in Winwin’s eyes, just the most beautiful person Winwin’s ever seen. “FUCK THE UNIVERSITY’S IMAGE! WE WON’T ACCEPT THIS HOMOPHOBIC BULLSHIT ANYMORE!”

Someone had handed Winwin a pamphlet with a lot of angry, rainbow text.

“Oh, thank you,” Winwin had said kindly, taking the pamphlet with a little nod. He’d glanced back at the guy standing on top of the car, who’d just caught sight of the policemen slowly making their way towards him.

“YEAH, FUCK YOU!” The guy had shouted, megaphone pointed at the tired-looking policemen. “YES I _DO_ GO HERE! NAKAMOTO YUTA! STUDENT NUMBER _FUCK YOU_!”

Winwin had made his way out of the crowd and started down the four-kilometer walk to his college. _Nakamoto Yuta_. It’d taken Winwin a little over a year to learn his name, but Winwin’s heart fluttered nonetheless.

 

“Winwin,” Mingyu’s concerned puppy dog pout drags Winwin back to the present.

“Mm-hm?” Winwin lifts an eyebrow.

“I mean – Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that we’re against those people, we’re actually for the same things,” Mingyu grimaces. “But people who protest get arrested.”

“I know.” Winwin says with a little shrug. “I think it’s brave to put everything on the line for what you believe in.”

Jaehyun looks up at the sunny sky. “Jesus please help us.”

Seokmin follows his line of sight to look up at the sky, frowning.

“I don’t know about you guys,” Jungkook says, hands flat on the table. “But I’m not ready to go to jail.”

“You’d never survive.” Bambam shakes his head.

“You wouldn’t either, you useless twink.” Yugyeom snaps at him. Seokmin gasps.

“Anyway!” Mingyu tries to cut in.

“Oh come on,” Minghao makes a face. “ _None_ of you would survive jail.”

“Guys!” Mingyu groans. “Let’s stick to the-”

“How do you know _you_ ’d survive jail?” Jungkook asks, challenging Minghao with one eyebrow hitched up.

“I already have.”

“What, really?” Seokmin asks, inching away from Minghao.

“Dude, I’m joking,” Minghao snorts.

Bambam cracks up, slapping his knees. “You should’ve _seen_ your face-”

“GUYS!” Mingyu whines out, stomping his feet like a toddler who didn’t get the toy they wanted. “Can we stick to the current problem, _please_?”

“The fact that Minghao _really_ underestimates my ability to fight?” Jungkook asks.

“The fact that Seokmin’ll believe anything he hears?” Minghao asks. 

“The fact that I was just giving you the benefit of the doubt, as my friend?” Seokmin asks.

“The fact that Bambam’s a useless twink?” Yugyeom asks.

“The fact that Yugyeom’s a little bitch?” Bambam asks.

Mingyu crumples in a whining heap, slumping face-first into an open bag of bread. Jaehyun just lets out a dry laugh, but Winwin pats Mingyu on the back gently.

“We don’t all have to protest if you guys don’t want to.” Winwin says.

“That’s not the point-” Jaehyun starts. “Nah, you know what, this is hopeless.”

“Meeting adjourned.” Mingyu mutters, still face-down in the bread.

 

Winwin’s not done copying the last slide when the professor slams his laptop shut and leaves. Winwin sighs and slumps in his chair.

“I didn’t get the last three lines,” Winwin says, tapping Minghao gently on the arm with his pen. “Did you?”

“I don’t have a lot of lines,” Minghao says, trying to figure out which direction the chickenscratch on his notebook is facing. “At all.”

Winwin sighs and stuffs his notebook into his backpack anyway. He’s just about to shuffle out of the classroom when the door flies open with a bang. And – as if by some kind of movie magic – Nakamoto Yuta comes barreling in, rainbow shirt and leaching hair dye and all.

Winwin’s heart skips a few beats when Yuta passes him, waving one hand wildly while the other carries a thick stack of pamphlets. “Wait! Wait! This afternoon! We’re marching up to the President’s office-”

“ _All the way_ to the Blue House?”

“Not that president! The president of the _university_ , you dumbass!” Yuta makes a face at the guy who had asked. “This afternoon at 4pm-”

“We still have class, _you_ dumbass!” Someone shouts from the back.

“Then don’t come, asshole! Anyway, if you’re a decent human being and care about freedom of expression and gay rights, show up at the quad later at 4pm!” Yuta’s handing out pamphlets with all the efficiency of an octopus with an _agenda_. “Can’t wait to see you guys there!”

“Get lost, homo!” Someone else shouts from the back.

“Except you!” Yuta squints around the back of the classroom. “Fuck you specifically!”

Winwin accepts a pamphlet with a big smile.

Yuta stops and smiles back at him, and his smile is so wide and clear and bright that Winwin’s heart does a perfectly executed double layout in his chest.

“See you later!” Yuta shouts at him, his voice still on megaphone mode.

Winwin’s smile widens. He _has_ to be there, no matter what his friends say.


	2. Beautiful (Japanese Ver.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Winwin goes missing

Mingyu is having a crisis.

“What do you _mean_ he was checking out that guy who’s always shouting?” Mingyu asks, ready to tear his hair out.

Minghao sips his iced Americano with a shrug. “He was staring at him like how hungry people stare at food.”

“Oh my god.” Mingyu stares dead ahead at nothing. “I thought our Winwin was above making bad decisions because of not-even-that-cute, fairly-above-average-looking boys.”

Minghao looks at Mingyu curiously. “Anything you want to talk about there, Gyu?”

Mingyu shakes his head aggressively. “No. Not- No. Just no.”

Minghao opens his mouth to say something else when they notice Jaehyun running towards them, backpack under one arm and textbook under the other.

“Yo.” Minghao pats Jaehyun on the back while the latter’s bent over, gasping for air.

Jaehyun looks up at them. “Winwin- is-”

“Don’t tell me.” Mingyu groans.

“He’s- _missing_!” Jaehyun pants out. “We were supposed to head back to the dorm together but I can’t find him-”

Mingyu and Minghao exchange knowing looks. Minghao slurps up the last of his iced Americano.

“Dammit.” Mingyu grumbles. “Get your car, Jaehyun, things are about to get messy.”

 

Jaehyun’s palm is starting to get red from honking at rogue students suddenly dashing out in front of his car. “There is _no_ way we are getting any further than this.”

Mingyu sighs as he looks at the crowds of people flush against each other. “Am I a bad person for not wanting to go out there?”

“No,” Minghao reassures him. “You’re just a claustrophobic person.”

“Thank you.” Mingyu sighs.

“If you guys are gonna get out, get out now.” Jaehyun grumbles. “If any of them scratched my car I swear to _God_ -”

“No, we’re bad people. Definitely bad people.” Mingyu says, taking a deep breath before he opens the door.

 

Someone knocks urgently on Jungkook’s door, making him drop his laptop off his knees.

“What?” He asks, scrambling to turn down the volume on the movie he’s watching.

The door opens a crack, and Yoongi sticks his head in. “We’re going out to the march.”

“March?” Jungkook frowns.

“The one against the anti-gay rules.” Yoongi rolls his eyes. “We’ll give you a ride there and back, if you want.”

Jungkook’s last three brain cells are still trying to process the phrase _‘against the anti-gay rules’_.

“Wait, so are you _for_ the rules or not?”

“Jungkook.” Yoongi sighs. “Do you really think I don’t want to hold my boyfriend’s hand on campus as much as you do?”

That question just rattles Jungkook’s coconut. “W- What?”

The door swings open. “Just come with us to the protest.” Hoseok says, standing in the doorway behind Yoongi.

“Protest?” Jungkook shakes his head. “No thanks. Sorry. I can’t. I might get kicked off the team-”

“Suit yourself.” Yoongi says.

“Yoongi, let him be.” Hoseok says.

Yoongi visibly bristles with irritation. “I’d better not see you and Yugyeom-”

“ _Yoongi_.” Hoseok squeezes Yoongi’s arm. “Let the kid be.”

 

Mingyu’s never drowned before, and he’s never gone to a crowded club, and he’s never set himself on fire – but the way he feels in this crowd is weird mix of what he imagines all three feel like. He’s a head above a lot of people in the crowd, and he feels something like pride rush in his chest at the sheer number of people out to fight for their – and his – rights, but he’s just not built for this.

Someone takes his hand, and Mingyu’s about to fucking _scream_ when he realizes it’s Minghao.

Minghao shoulders his way to a little clearing, tugging Mingyu gently along. Minghao doesn’t say anything, he just taps Mingyu on the shoulder and points far up ahead.

“Winwin?” Mingyu shouts, tiptoeing to try and see better. “Where?”

“There!” Minghao shouts, pointing more aggressively. Someone dodges Minghao’s finger with their eyes wide, like their life’s just flashed before their eyes.

Mingyu squints and cranes his neck until one calmly bobbing head seems to rise above the crowd.

Winwin seems to notice Mingyu staring, because he turns to face him, smiles widely, and waves.

He fucking _waves_.

Mingyu tightens his grip on Minghao’s hand. “Let’s get him before he hurts himself.”

“What?” Minghao asks, but Mingyu pulls him back into the march before he can reply.

 

Winwin hasn’t seen Yuta, but he doesn’t mind _that_ much. It’s nice to be around people who care deeply about something he also cares very deeply about. He figures that’s why people like to go to church, if they do.

He sees Mingyu and Minghao there too, despite what they were saying awhile ago during lunch. Winwin can’t help but smile. He’s glad his friends came to back him up. He was worried that he’d put them off somehow a while ago, but –

Oh, they disappeared. Oh well. They’re there somewhere.

The girl next to Winwin seems to be having trouble with her giant sign, so Winwin offers to help her carry it. She smiles and gives him one corner.

“Winwin!”

Winwin turns to find Minghao and Mingyu right there beside him. Mingyu’s face is a mix of sweaty and flushed and pale, and Minghao’s jaw is clenched so tightly his teeth must be going flat.

“Oh, hey guys!” Winwin says. “I saw you a while ago, and-”

“Come on,” Mingyu grabs onto Winwin’s forearm like a drowning man clings to driftwood. “ _Please_.”

“What?”

“Let’s get out of here,” Minghao says, leaning in so he doesn’t have to shout it out loud.

“What? But we’re nearly at the president’s-”

“Exactly!” Mingyu whines. “Let’s go _now_ , so-”

“You guys can go ahead, I’m staying.” Winwin apologizes to the girl and goes back to helping her carry her sign, which reads, _PRESIDENT ___ IS A HOMOPHOBE AND A FASCIST_. _THAT’S THE TEA._

Mingyu reaches out to grab Winwin again, but Minghao holds him back.

Minghao’s about to say something, but he gets cut off by the loud wail of sirens in the distance.

They exchange worried looks, then grab Winwin without a second thought.

 

Jaehyun’s scrolling down his ex-boyfriend’s Insta, seat reclined and feet propped up while he waits for his friends. He’d had a rule against shoes on the dashboards, because the prints really get on his nerves, but that was _before_ Lee Taeyong’s smug ass decided to dump him.

This is the new Jaehyun, and he doesn’t care about the dirt his Chucks are leaving on the tan dashboard. Well, he doesn’t care _that_ much.

Like how it doesn’t hurt _that_ much that that flat-assed stick insect _bitch_ Lee Taeyong thought Jaehyun wasn’t even worth breaking up with in person. A breakup text? _Really_? In the year of our Lord 20-fucking-18?

Jaehyun glowers up at Mingyu tapping nervously on his window. He sighs and unlocks the car.

Minghao and Mingyu toss something huge in the backseat. Jaehyun whirls around to find a crumpled heap of a person dressed in a fluffy white sweater.

“Did you _knock him out_?” Jaehyun asks, poking Winwin with the corner of his phone. “I can’t believe-”

“You guys are overreacting!” Winwin sits up suddenly, scaring the shit out of Jaehyun. “I was fine! Everything was fine!”

“The police were there!” Mingyu says, as he straps himself in the front seat.

“The _police_?” Jaehyun straps himself in and starts the car in a panic. “Jesus-”

“I could handle myself!” Winwin says, while Minghao clips his seatbelt on for him. “Oh, thank you, Minghao.”

“No prob.” Minghao says, strapping himself in just as Jaehyun backs out of his parking spot with all the airs of a GTA character who’s six stars wanted.

 

“The fuck happened to you guys?” Bambam asks, shimmying into the booth next to his four _very_ exhausted friends.

“Just order your fucking burger.” Mingyu says. His hair’s stuck to his forehead with sweat, and there’s a slightly wild look in his eyes. A very _don’t fucking try me Bambam or I will snap you like a fucking toothpick_ kind of look. Minghao and Jaehyun are less sweaty, but they’re just staring dead ahead like they’re sleeping with their eyes open, while Winwin watches the TV… _angrily_? His arms are folded and he’s pouting, but to Bambam he just looks cute.

Seokmin arrives, frowning. “What happened to-”

“Don’t ask.” Bambam says, arriving with his tray of food.

Seokmin bows his head and goes to the counter to order his dinner.

“Hey guys,” Yugyeom arrives tugging Jungkook a few steps behind him, their pinkies intertwined _disgustingly_. Yugyeom frowns. “What happened to-”

“Don’t-” Bambam starts, but it’s too late.

Mingyu takes a long, loud slurp of his Coke. “ _Someone_ thought it would be a good idea to join the fucking protest-”

“It was!” Winwin grumbles. “You guys didn’t need to do anything! It would’ve been nice if you’d just been there normally, like everyone else-”

“Everyone else was probably arrested!” Mingyu squeaks.

“They can’t possibly have arrested that many people.” Jaehyun says, picking at his fries.

“Whose side are you on?” Mingyu glares at him.

“What the fuck happened?” Jungkook looks from Mingyu to Jaehyun to Winwin.

“Winwin joined the impromptu pride parade slash protest.” Minghao explains.

Seokmin and Jungkook nod slowly.

“Nice, nice,” Bambam puts up a hand and Winwin high fives it.

“See? At least Bambam’s supportive of me.” Winwin pouts.

“ _Bambam? BAMBAM_? Bambam thinks that everyone’s problems are caused by _dick_!” Mingyu points an accusatory finger in Bambam’s direction.

“I call it the Dick Energy Theory,” Bambam says, in a very offensive vaguely British accent.

Winwin screws up his face. “Um…”

“All the problems in the world can be traced to a dick, and its respective owner,” Bambam carries on, in that awful accent.

“I think I’m finally losing it, but he kind of has a point.” Jaehyun mutters, refreshing his ex-boyfriend’s Insta feverishly.

Yugyeom ignores them and sits down next to Winwin while Jungkook goes off to order their food. “Wait, you went alone?”

“Yes.” Winwin says.

“Why didn’t any of you guys go with him?” Yugyeom looks around the table.

“Why didn’t _you_?” Mingyu asks defensively.

“I had a class until like twenty minutes ago? Oh, thanks, Kookie.” Yugyeom scoots over to give Jungkook space when the latter arrives with a tray full of food. “I’d have gone with you if I didn’t.”

Winwin beams at him. “There’s actually another protest planned for tomorrow-”

“And how do you know that?” Mingyu asks.

“It’s on the pamphlet,” Winwin pulls a crumpled rainbow pamphlet out of his jacket. “ _Someone_ came by class awhile ago giving them out.”

Not one – not a _single_ person at this table – misses the dreamy way Winwin says ‘ _someone_ ’.

“Would this _someone_ … happen to be…” Bambam folds his hands together conspiratorially. “…a big ol’ dick owner?”

Winwin grimaces. “I can’t say-”

Mingyu groans. “Winwin, please tell me you are _not_ suddenly interested in protesting the day away because of a guy who probably _isn’t_ even that cute-”

“Excuse you! He’s _very_ cute! And handsome!” Winwin says defensively. His hands fly up to cover his mouth. “Shit.”

There’s a long silence that’s finally broken by Bambam jumping up, knocking over his drink in the process, and screaming, “I’M RIGHT! THE DICK ENERGY THEORY IS THE TRUUUUUTH, BITCHES!”

“Jesus.” Jaehyun and Jungkook mutter under their breath.

Mingyu buries his face in his hands, whining wordlessly into them while Minghao pats his shoulder gently.

Seokmin stirs his iced tea sagely. “So what does your Dick Energy Theory say about solving the dick-caused problems?”

“Seokmin.” Yugyeom groans. “Don’t encourage him-”

“Why, it’s _elementary_ , my dear Seokmin,” Bambam says, putting on his atrocious British accent. “Winwin needs to get laid.”

Winwin’s worried that he’s agreeing with Bambam on something twice in a day, but yes, he agrees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls don't hate this Mingyu for his anti-protest ways, he's really just a claustrophobic bitch :<


	3. Cheer Up (Japanese Ver.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We can’t just guess where the anti-gay police are going to strike next,” Jungkook says. 
> 
> “Sure we can,” Winwin gives them an easy smile. “If we set it up.”
> 
> Jaehyun frowns. “Winwin, I think you’ve been spending too much time with Freedom Fighter…”
> 
> Winwin beams at him. “That’s a great idea.”

Winwin grins at the wind in his face as he heads down the university’s main avenue the next morning. Every trace of the protest from the day before is completely gone, except for a few stray bits of confetti here and there.

He parks his bike at the rack, taking care to chain it up well, and starts walking up towards the building when he notices Mingyu arguing with some school official he probably shouldn’t be arguing with.

It’s only when Winwin comes over that he notices Minghao is there too, hands tucked away in his pockets.

“Hey guys,” Winwin says, tucking his own hands in his pockets.

“Winwin!” Mingyu gasps with relief. “Please explain to Mr. Hwang that Minghao and I _aren’t_ dating or-”

“That’s not what’s in question here, Mr. Kim,” The official sighs. “Whatever the case is, you were engaging in inappropriate behavior in a public space-”

“ _Inappropriate_?” The vein on Mingyu’s neck looks just about ready to pop. “He was scratching my back!”

Winwin holds back a snort, pursing his lips to keep his face straight. “Mr. Hwang, perhaps you’d like to set an appointment to discuss this with my friends later. I’m afraid we have a class to get to right now.”

The official checks his watch and scowls. Winwin’s sure that he doesn’t want to make time to talk to Mingyu and Minghao about their scandalous back scratching. Sure enough, Mr. Hwang just grumbles and says, “Fine, I’ll let you off for now. Go to your class.”

When they get into the building, Mingyu jumps and hugs Winwin.

“ThankyouWinwinyou’realifesaver,” Mingyu squeezes the life out of Winwin.

“Gyu,” Minghao laughs. “Someone might see you-”

Mingyu drops his arms to his sides and slides to the far side of the hallway. “Sorry.”

 

Winwin excuses himself from lunch with his friends, saying he has a paper to finish for his Geography class. Jaehyun and Bambam give him suspicious looks, and Mingyu would’ve, too, if Winwin hadn’t “saved his life” (in Mingyu’s words) earlier that day.

Winwin unchains his bike and starts for the university’s main building, where a small crowd of students are standing around a table.

‘Small crowd’ is a kind overstatement. There’s a red-haired girl arranging pamphlets, a boy and a girl holding hands while they roll their eyes at Yuta, who’s sitting at the table, arguing with them.

Winwin parks his bike by the bike rack and walks over.

“…I’m not asking you to be gay, I’m just asking you to fucking _care_.” Yuta grumbles.

“Nakamoto,” The guy sighs. “Just clear your shit before I call the cops.”

“You’re skipping a few rungs in the bureaucratic ladder there, buddy.” Yuta taps the guy on the arm, and the guy flinches.

“Don’t fucking touch me, you fag-”

“Sweetie.” The girl beside him says sternly, squeezing his arm. She looks down at Yuta from the tip of her lightly powdered nose. “Yuta, this is fucking depressing. You can’t hold a protest with no _protesters_.”

“Nayoung’s here.” Yuta says, nodding over the red-haired girl.

Nayoung grimaces. “I have to go in like five minutes, Yuta.”

“Dammit.” Yuta says, while the other guy laughs.

Winwin gives a little wave as he walks over. “Hi.”

Yuta beams up at him, and Winwin’s heart does a full double layout with a half twist. Yuta turns to the couple with a much less kind smile. “Ha!”

“That’s literally one guy.” The girl says.

“Just give up, Nakamoto.” The guy says.

Winwin shifts around on his feet.

“Come here, uh…” Yuta kicks out the empty seat next to him. “What’s your name again?”

“Winwin.”

Yuta’s eyebrows go up. “Well, that’s a name.”

“It’s a nickname.” Winwin explains.

“I figured as much.” Yuta folds his hands. “Well, Winwin, meet the student council president and vice president, complete assholes.”

The girl smiles at Winwin, but the guy doesn’t.

“Listen, Winwin,” The girl says kindly. “I don’t know what Yuta’s promised you, but just go have lunch or something-”

“I’ve already had lunch, thanks.” Winwin says, patting his stomach.

Yuta starts laughing, and the girl’s face goes red.

“I can’t- You guys are on your own.” The girl turns away with a stomp. “Come on, Sweetie.”

The guy gives Yuta one last smug grin before turning to trail after his girlfriend.

“Sorry, man, but I’ve got to go too,” Nayoung says as she scrambles to pick up her backpack.

“Wait-” Yuta tries to reach out and stop her, but Nayoung’s already started running down the street.

Yuta groans and flops dramatically onto his table, scattering one pile of pamphlets. “Why does everyone hate me?”

Winwin shifts his weight on his feet, teetering back and forth on his heels while Yuta has his crisis on the table.

“Excuse me,” Winwin says gently, once Yuta seems to have calmed down. The latter’s just staring up at the sky, sighing dramatically.

“Oh. Right.” Yuta sits up. “I forgot you were still there. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

Yuta scoots off the table, heaving another dramatic sigh. “I guess we’ll have to call the protest off, since it’s just you and me, and the Council Prez is right, it’s depressing.”

Winwin frowns. “Where did everyone from yesterday go?”

“Exactly!” Yuta sighs as he lowers himself back into his foldaway chair. “People think they can show up once and be done with it, they’ve proven that they’re woke, so they can go home happy… It’s crap! Nothing gets done in _one_ day!”

“Maybe people are busy.” Winwin says, sitting down in the foldaway chair next to Yuta as he arranges the pamphlets the latter had knocked over in his drama session.

“They’re all in the cafés,” Yuta folds his arms. “Feeding the capitalist machine.”

Winwin looks up to find Mr. Hwang from that morning stomping towards them, glaring at the giant rainbow banner in front of Yuta’s table. “Uh, Yuta?”

“Yeah?”

Winwin just points, and Yuta’s eyes widen.

“Come on, come on,” Yuta grabs his jacket and rushes Winwin to his feet. “We have to get out of here.”

“But your pamphlets-”

“Fuck the pamphlets! Nobody reads them anyway!” Yuta’s pushing Winwin ahead of him, glancing back every few seconds to find Mr. Hwang steadily gaining on them.

“I have a bike,” Winwin offers.

“Yes! Great idea!” Yuta’s smile is infectious.

 

“When you said you had a bike,” Yuta says, clinging to Winwin while Winwin pedals for dear life. “I thought you meant motorbike.”

Winwin pants, sweat gluing his shirt to his back. “Why- why would you think that? I don’t look like –Move out of the way, cat! – a motorbike kind of guy.”

Yuta tucks his face into Winwin’s shoulder as they swerve to avoid a lazy calico cat sitting in the middle of the bike lane.

“Where’s your next class?” Winwin asks. “I can drop you off there.”

“No thanks,” Yuta says, tightening his arms around Winwin’s waist as they turn a sharp corner. “I’ll just get down wherever you’re going.”

“My next class isn’t for another hour.” Winwin says, stomping on the brakes when an elderly woman waves her hand at the side of the road.

“Me neither.” Yuta’s chin knocks into Winwin’s shoulder. “Oh god, sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Winwin puts down one leg for balance and smiles at the elderly woman. “Good afternoon, ma’am.”

“Hello, would you young men happen to know where the Centennial Auditorium is?” The woman asks, squinting at a piece of paper in her hand.

“Oh, it’s just down this road and to the right, ma’am,” Winwin says, pointing back the way he and Yuta came.

“It’s got a really big bronze statue of a bird in front, you can’t miss it.”  Yuta adds.

The woman squints in the distance, then turns back to Winwin and Yuta with a smile that crinkles her entire face. “I see it. Thank you very much, dears.”

“You’re welcome, ma’am.” Winwin says.

“No problem.” Yuta says.

Winwin waits for the woman to head a little way down the street before twisting halfway to look back at Yuta. “I’m sorry, I got distracted. Where did you want to go, again?”

Yuta gives him a blank stare. “Um… anywhere’s fine with me.”

 

 _Have some principles_ , Yuta chides himself, when he finds himself sitting on a park bench, eating a strawberry waffle from a street food stall. _What are you doing_?

Winwin’s tapping one foot on the curved leg of the park bench while he bites into his own strawberry waffle. He stops and smiles at Yuta when he notices the latter looking his way.

Yuta looks away, like the trees in the distance are _really_ interesting.

_He’s probably a freshman, Yuta. Why else would you not have met him before? Because he’s a FRESHMAN. A CHILD. YOU’RE NEARLY 21, YUTA. DON’T-_

“Are you sure I don’t need to pay you back for this?” Winwin asks, wagging his waffle.

“No, no, it’s thanks for being my getaway… bicycle.” Yuta makes a face at himself.

Winwin laughs as he takes another bite.

“We’ve not been classmates in anything before, have we?” Yuta asks, still looking out at the trees with what he hopes is a neutral expression.

“We’re classmates in Ballroom Dancing.” Winwin says quietly. “This semester.”

“Oh.” _Oh shit. You’re the worst, Yuta._ “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, you’re not really there often – I mean, I know you’re probably busy with other things, since it’s the last class in the afternoon, people usually skip it, and-”

“I should go more often.” Yuta says.

Winwin nods, lowering his waffle. “It’s actually pretty fun. We’re starting on the Argentine Tango next meeting.”

“Tango?” Yuta can hardly imagine regular university students surviving a tango with both ankles intact. He nearly imagines Winwin doing the tango, but he stops his imagination just before things get _weird._

“The professor’s a bit ambitious, yeah.” Winwin smiles, and Yuta’s heart melts.

 _Don’t get distracted, Yuta. The patriarchy’s not going to dismantle itself_.

“I’ll probably just make a fool of myself if I showed up this late in the semester, won’t I?” Yuta says.

“I could help you catch up.”

 _What does he mean?_ Yuta can’t read anything past Winwin’s easygoing smile – _the kid probably means exactly what he’s saying, Yuta,_ you’re _the weird one. Don’t be weird._

“Thanks, but I’ll figure it out on my own.” Yuta says, burying his face in his waffle to hide the warmth on his cheeks.

“Good luck,” Winwin says, without the slightest trace of sarcasm.

That’s not what Yuta would have said in his position. Winwin seems like a person on a fast track to sainthood, while Yuta’s already paid a deposit on his spot in hell.

“Thanks.” Yuta says, feeling weird as he holds back on sarcasm. Maybe he should spend more time with Winwin, he might become a better person.

Maybe he should spend more time with Winwin, period.

 

Jaehyun fixes Winwin with a curious look when he helps the latter lift his bike into the back of Jaehyun’s minivan.

“What’re you so happy about?” Jaehyun knows he sounds bitter, and he doesn’t care. He’s a bitter asshole, not a liar.

“No-thing,” Winwin hums, skipping around to the front seat.

Winwin hooks his phone up to the car’s speakers, playing a bubbly Twice song for as long as he can before Jaehyun turns off the sound system. They’re not even out of the school’s parking lot when Jaehyun hits the power button, giving Winwin no explanation but the dead silence that follows.

Winwin sinks into his seat, hands folded in his lap.

“Winwin.” Jaehyun says at the next stoplight.

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad you’re so happy, man,” Jaehyun’s fists clench around the wheel.

Winwin can’t hide his smile. “Aw, thanks, Jae-”

“But keep it to yourself.” Jaehyun says.

Winwin lowers his head and turns to the window for the rest of the ride back to the dorm.

 

“Okay, bitches,” Mingyu slams a plastic container full of Oreo truffles down onto the stone table, making the truffles bounce around inside. “Have you uglies been reading the gc?”

“Yup.” Seokmin nods, the only one in a sea of noncommittal grunts.

“Don’t answer to ‘uglies,’ Seokmin,” Jaehyun says, reaching for a truffle. “Give yourself a little credit.”

“No!” Mingyu snatches the container away, hugging it to his chest. “No one eats until we have a plan!”

“Plan?” Jungook asks, trying to rest his hand casually on Yugyeom’s ass, but Yugyeom flicks his hand away, hissing at him like a cat.

“We are going to work together to bring the whole fucking system down.” Mingyu taps agitatedly on the side of the plastic container. He knows how to get his friends’ interest – Sure enough, they’re all staring at the truffles bouncing around inside the container. “Recap for all the uglies who didn’t check the gc last night: Hao and I have a pending minor offense case _just because I asked him to scratch my fucking back._ ”

“Wait, I thought he let you guys go?” Winwin frowns.

“He did,” Minghao replies before Mingyu can start shouting again. “But then he found us later in the afternoon and sent us to the discipline office.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Yugyeom scoffs.

“NO! We’re not kidding!” Mingyu gives out a hysterical giggle. “Would you believe? The audacity? Of the stupid hets?”

“Okay, I don’t think we can trash on _all_ hets,” Jungkook says.

“Jeon Jungkook, your bland centrist views are not welcome here – Oh good god I sound like that guy who’s always shouting.” Mingyu crumples into a heap on his seat, still hugging the container of Oreo truffles.

“His name is Yuta.” Winwin says.

“Great. I sound like _Yuta_.” Mingyu sighs.

“Our pending case aside,” Minghao says, managing to draw everyone’s attention away from the Oreo truffles for a moment. “We’ve got to do something about this rule. Even if it doesn’t affect us, it’s a dick move.”

“ _Dick energy_ ,” Bambam gasps.

Yugyeom raises his hand. “I vote Bambam shuts the fuck up for the rest of the meeting.”

“Second the motion.”

“Me too.”

“Bye, Bambam.”

“Okay, it’s settled then,” Mingyu says. “Bambam shuts up from here on out.”

“But-” Bambam starts, but everyone shoots him stern looks, so he clamps his mouth shut and shrinks into the corner of the table.

“Anyway, we need to come up with a plan,” Mingyu goes on, opening the plastic container a crack. The wind picks up at that moment, wafting out the scent of the Oreo truffles. He has everyone’s attention again. “Any suggestions? One truffle per _reasonable_ suggestion.”

“And who’s gonna judge that?” Jaehyun asks.

“Me. Duh.” Mingyu opens the container further, and Jaehyun takes a deep breath.

“Fine.” Jaehyun folds his arms.

“So…” Mingyu fans the truffle scent with his hands. “Suggestions?”

Minghao raises a hand. “Protest.”

“Good idea.” Mingyu cracks the truffle box open.

“What?” Winwin’s voice gives an indignant squeak. “But just _yesterday_ you said-”

“Yesterday was yesterday. I’ve changed my mind.” Mingyu hands Minghao a truffle, then snatches it back before Minghao can take a bite. “Wait, what kind of protest?”

“I don’t know,” Minghao shrugs. “Slash the president’s tires?”

“Hao.” Mingyu sighs and puts the truffle back in the box. “ _Reasonable_ suggestions.”

“Besides, it’s not the president who came up with the new policy,” Winwin says. “He just approved it. Mr. Hwang is the one who drafted the-”

“ _Mr. Hwang_?” Mingyu visibly bristles with anger.

“Yeah, he’s the one in charge of the discipline committee,” Winwin nods, half happy that Mingyu’s finally on board, and half terrified that Mingyu’s really going to go out and slash a few tires.

“Who said so?” Mingyu’s knuckles go white as he grips the plastic container.

“Yuta.”

“And where did your freedom fighter boyfriend get this information?”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Winwin laughs. “He overheard Mr. Hwang talking to his secretary a few weeks ago. Because he was at the discipline office.”

“Figures.” Mingyu passes a truffle to Winwin with fire behind his eyes. “We need to take him down.”

“Hey, Winwin didn’t even suggest anything.” Jaehyun says, trying to make a grab for a truffle while the cover’s open, but Mingyu slaps his hand.

“He gave us good information.” Mingyu says. “Now does anyone have any good suggestions?”

“Winwin and I already said,” Minghao sighs. “ _Protest_.”

“So what’s the plan for the protest?” Jungkook asks, trying to hold Yugyeom’s thigh under the table, but the later shakes his hands off.

“I thought you were afraid for your scholarship,” Seokmin says.

“Fuck my scholarship.” Jungkook growls. “I just wanna be free to grab my boyfriend’s ass in public.”

Minghao and Mingyu exchange looks. Jaehyun rolls his eyes.

“Well, that’s not what we’re fighting for _exactly_ ,” Minghao starts.

“You’re not supposed to grab your boyfriend’s ass in public either way.” Jaehyun says. “I mean-”

“But!” Mingyu throws his jacket over Jaehyun’s head. “We appreciate you being with us on this!”

“Sure.” Jungkook uses his pinky to tap Yugyeom on the thigh, and Yugyeom sighs and holds his hand under the table. Jungkook grins. “So what’s the plan?”

“Uh…” Minghao frowns, like he’s slashing out items on a long list of illegal things he could do to Mr. Hwang and his property. Mingyu ducks as Jaehyun throws Mingyu’s jacket at him. Seokmin stares down at the table gravely, like he’s in a graded recitation and hasn’t studied _shit_. Bambam whines, having resorted to holding his lips together just to stop himself from talking, and Yugyeom shrugs, squeezing Jungkook’s hand tightly.

“Well,” Winwin says. “We could protest all we like, but unless we have proof of what they’re doing, Mr. Hwang will just swat us away like flies.”

“P- proof? How are we going to get proof?” Mingyu sputters.

“We can’t just guess where the anti-gay police are going to strike next,” Jungkook says.

“Sure we can,” Winwin gives them an easy smile. “If we set it up.”

Jaehyun frowns. “Winwin, I think you’ve been spending too much time with Freedom Fighter…”

Winwin beams at him. “That’s a _great_ idea.”

“What…”

Winwin’s suddenly scrambling out of his seat and slinging his backpack on his shoulder. “I’ll see you guys later!”

“Wait, where are you going?” Mingyu asks, holding out a truffle he’d been planning to give to him.

It’s too late. Winwin’s already sprinting excitedly down the path like a gazelle on crack.

“Shit.”

“This is all your fault, Jaehyun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YUTA AND WINWIN WERE WILDING ON THE NCT TWITTER YESTERDAY AND MY HEART COULD NOT TAKE IT
> 
> I KNOW THE VIDEO'S EDITED AND ALL BUT
> 
> OUCH THEY BROUGHT OUT ALL MY UWUS
> 
> Also, I'm thinking of changing my update schedule to Friday evenings so I don't have to sneak around at work just to write n post my fic, which is Sad Adult Behavior ;( Anyway, don't freak out if the update next week doesn't roll in till Friday


	4. Boy In Luv (Japanese Ver.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I hate cafés.” Yuta says. “I can’t condone them.”  
> “You don’t like coffee?”  
> “The coffee’s fine,” Yuta says. “It’s the crass consumerism I don’t like.”

“So, what do you think?”

Yuta leans back in his seat, tipping his chair back thoughtfully. “Uh…”

“It’s a bit weird, I know,” Winwin says excitedly – he’s still on his bike, he’d been so fucking excited about this great _plan_ of his that he hadn’t even bothered to park his bike. “But I think it’ll work.”

Yuta thinks so, too, and even if it doesn’t change the policy, it’d embarrass the fuck out of the administration. Yuta can’t believe he didn’t think of a stunt like this himself, but it’s even weirder coming from of this baby angel freshman. Either Yuta’s corrupted the kid after one day of talking to him, or Yuta’s misjudged the kid by a _lot_.

“So…” Yuta rocks in his chair, looking at the distant administration building. “We hold hands a few times, take a few videos when we get caught, whine about it on the Internet, and we’re done?”

“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Winwin’s practically dancing around on his bike at this point. “Everyone we know will have to _believe_ we’re really a couple, or they can just go on the Internet and expose us.”

“So, what do you mean by that?” Yuta tips his chair, frowning.

“We’ll have to do a lot more than hand-holding.”

Yuta’s chair slips, sending him falling flat against the pavement.

“Are you okay?” Winwin hops off his bike, letting it clatter to the ground. “Yuta?”

Yuta opens his eyes to find Winwin’s face blocking out the sun. Yuta likes it when Winwin reaches around his back and helps him up – Yuta’s not going to lie, feeling Winwin’s warm hands on his body is worth cracking his head against the pavement a few more times – but Yuta brushes him away as soon as he comes to his senses.

“Why don’t you just get one of your friends to do it?”

“Because anyone who knows us would know I’d _never_ date any of them,” Winwin says.

 _And you’d date me?_ Yuta bites back a grin. _You’re too pleased about this, you creepy old prune. Let the kid down gently._

“Also, you attract a lot of attention.” Winwin flicks Yuta’s sort-of-purple hair with his fingers.

Yuta jerks his hair away from Winwin’s hand. “I- I lost a bet.”

“Really? Well, it doesn’t look bad.” Winwin’s smile pushes his eyes into little crescent-moons.

Yuta would literally crack his head on the pavement just to see Winwin do that again. “Thanks.”

Winwin helps Yuta to his feet, holding gently but firmly on Yuta’s forearms. “I have a class in a little while, so just let me know-”

“I’ll do it.”

Winwin’s eyebrows shoot up. “That was fast.”

“I’m not an indecisive person.” Yuta manages not to cringe at himself. _I make bad decisions, but really quickly._

“Okay, I guess we’re set, then!” Winwin sticks out a hand for a high-five.

“Oh, we’re doing that, okay,” Yuta high-fives him. This is a weirdly pure way to seal the deal. Yuta feels gross. “So, what, do we exchange numbers or something?”

“I, uh, you put your number on the pamphlet.” Winwin says, reaching into the side pocket of his backpack to pull out a crumpled, but definitely still rainbow pamphlet. “If that’s really your number.”

Half of Yuta wants to admit that’s the number to his burner phone he uses for propaganda and hookups, and the other half of Yuta’s just melted into a puddle on the pavement.

_Someone reads my pamphlets._

 

“He really, honestly, read the whole thing,” Yuta says, flopping onto the couch of the apartment he shares with _way_ too many people.

“Is this still the freshman from yesterday?” Johnny asks, stirring whipped cream into his coffee, like a heathen.

“A _freshman_? Dude, how desperate can you be for dick?” Ten asks, nudging Johnny on the hip. Johnny sighs and sprays some whipped cream into Ten’s mouth. “Fhanksh.”

“Are you even sure he’s legal?” Taeyong asks, from where he’s trying to find a place for the rice cooker in their overcrowded extension cord.

“This is rich coming from the guy who was dating a freshman for a whole year,” Kun says, trying to untangle three extension cords.

“We weren’t dating!” Taeyong says defensively.

“You weren’t?” Taeil frowns, nudging the refrigerator door closed with his ass, because his arms are full of tupperwares.

“What the fuck are those?” Ten asks, from where he’s trying to climb on top of the kitchen counter to sit on it.

“Johnny’s pot brownies.” Taeil says, carrying the stack of tupperwares back to his room.

“Hey!” Johnny starts after him. “I was saving those!”

“Ten, get off the counter, you know the fake granite cracks easily.” Kun groans, managing to get one extension cord free from the cord hydra he’s wrestling with.

“And yet you’re the only one who’s ever cracked it,” Ten says, reaching for Johnny’s coffee.

“Screw you.” Kun throws the extension cord at Ten.

“Wait, I need that!” Taeyong says scrambling to pick the extension cord off the floor, but it snags on Ten’s foot, and Ten falls forward, dropping Johnny’s mug on the tiled floor with a loud crash from the mug, and a loud crack from the floor.

“FUCK!”

Yuta gets up to head to his room. He _really_ needs to find a new place.

 

Yuta lies awake that night, his burner phone beside his pillow _just in case_. He can’t sleep, because Taeil’s got the light on – Taeil thinks that eating pot brownies while writing will make his thesis come along faster, which is a very stoner thing to think.

Yuta shuts his eyes and faces the wall, but he can hear Johnny and Ten “having coffee” in the kitchen, and the obnoxious death metal coming from Kun and Taeyong’s room, though Yuta can never figure out which one of them is the metalhead.

The phone on the pillow next to him vibrates, and Yuta practically tumbles over to pick it up.

 _Low battery_.

“Fuck you bitch.” Yuta mutters, digging around blindly under his bed for the charger.

“What?” Taeil asks, spinning on his computer chair to face the bunk bed, but he overspins and ends up facing the wall, with one foot in the trash can. “Yuta? What did you say?”

“Nothing, hyung.” Yuta rolls off his bed to reach further into the dust.

His phone’s vibrating again.

_Unknown number calling._

Yuta shimmies to get the upper half of his body out from under the bed. “H- Hello?”

“Oh, hi, Winwin. Yeah,” Yuta climbs back onto the bed, then feels weird and sits up, then lays down, then moves to his chair. Taeil’s still busy trying to get his foot out of the trash can. “No, it’s not that late- No, I’m not busy!”

“Yeah. Haha,” Yuta swivels around on his chair. “No, I’m free.”

The door opens, and Johnny walks his, trying to comb his hair down and adjust his sweatpants at once. He frowns when he sees Yuta on the phone, smiling to himself like an idiot.

He turns to ask Taeil what’s going on, but Taeil’s just spinning around on his chair in the corner.

‘Who’s that? The freshman?’ Johnny mouths at Yuta.

‘Fuck off,’ Yuta mouths back, flipping him off for good measure. He spins to face the desk. “Yeah, it’s- Yeah. Perfect. See you tomorrow!”

Yuta tosses the phone onto his desk and flops into his bed to scream into his pillow, kicking at his sheets.

“What the hell, man,” Johnny says, tiptoeing around Yuta to climb to the upper bunk. “ _See you tomorrow!_ ” He adds, in a high-pitched, poor imitation of Yuta’s voice.

“Whatever. _I_ have a date tomorrow.” Yuta says, rolling over onto his back to kick at the bottom of Johnny’s bed.

“ _I_ have a boyfriend, man,” Johnny adjusts his sweatpants again with a little smirk that Yuta doesn’t see. “But congrats anyway.”

“Congrats!” Taeil says, clapping a little too hard.

Johnny leans over the side of his bed to frown at Yuta. “Have you never been on a date before?”

“I have. Loads of times.” Yuta says, hoping he sounds cool and not like he’s about to vomit butterflies. He kicks the bottom of Johnny’s bed. “Aren’t you going to shower before you sleep?”

“Uh, no?” Johnny whips his blanket open and crawls in. “Good night, guys.”

“Disgusting.” Yuta says, turning to face the wall. When he’s sure Taeil can’t see his face, he smiles.

 

“I think we all just have to accept that Winwin’s just like, lightyears ahead of us,” Bambam says.

“Lightyears are a measure of space, not time.” Jungkook says.

“Idiot.” Yugyeom adds.

“Guys I’m being bullied,” Bambam whines.

Nobody minds him.

Mingyu stuffs another Oreo truffle into his mouth chewing anxiously. “But Winwin, he’s- He’s a _baby_!”

“He’s just as old as we are.” Minghao says, reaching over to stop Mingyu from eating his twentieth Oreo truffle. “How many of those did you even make last night?”

“Does it matter?” Jaehyun asks, reaching for a handful of truffles that he splits between himself and Seokmin.

“Thanks.”

“I don’t trust this _Yuta_ guy. What kind of senior preys on unsuspecting _babies_ like Winwin?” Mingyu manages to sneak a truffle past Minghao and stuff it in his mouth.

“Dude.” Minghao groans.

“The same kind of senior who breaks up with you after you give him _everything_ ,” Jaehyun mutters.

“Nobody told you to give him _everything_ ,” Yugyeom laughs.

“Shut up, Yugyeom, everyone you were saving your virginity for-”

“WINWIN!” Mingyu screeches.

They all turn to face the direction Mingyu’s looking, and sure enough, Winwin’s about to pass by on his bicycle, the purple-haired freedom fighter clinging to his waist from behind.

“Hi guys!” Winwin says, as he comes near, followed by a quick, “Bye guys!”

Even Freedom Fighter waves at them as they pass, one arm still wrapped tightly around Winwin’s waist.

Mingyu sinks back into his seat. “I don’t trust him at all.”

“We don’t have to trust him,” Jungkook says. “We just have to be thankful he agreed to Winwin’s crackhead plan.”

“You know what,” Mingyu narrows his eyes at Jungkook. “Why didn’t you and Yugyeom just make out in front of Mr. Hwang or something-”

“Because of Jungkook’s scholarship.” Yugyeom says.

“Actually, I don’t really care,” Jungkook snakes his arm around Yugyeom’s back to stick his hand in Yugyeom’s back pocket.

Yugyeom glares at him. “We’re not risking your scholarship.”

“And you’re willing to just _throw_ Winwin out there?” Mingyu throws his arms in the air, which, given a smaller guy, would’ve been pretty dramatic already, but because it’s Mingyu, it’s a grand production and Bambam gets hit in the face.

“This is bullying!” Bambam rubs his nose.

“Report us to Mr. Hwang.” Minghao laughs, putting an arm around Bambam’s shoulders to pull him out of Mingyu’s danger zone. “Oh wait, we’ve already _got_ a case.”

“Guys! Am I the only one who cares about Winwin?” Mingyu stuffs another Oreo truffle in his mouth. Mingyu kicks Jaehyun’s foot. “Jaehyun! You’ve _got_ to be worried about him!”

“Winwin’s a big boy.” Jaehyun steals a truffle from Mingyu. “Let him make his own crappy decisions.”

Mingyu gasps, then grabs Minghao by the arm. “Hao, please kill Mr. Lee Taeyong, I want the old Jaehyun back.”

“The old Jaehyun’s dead,” Jaehyun hums, reaching for another Oreo truffle.

“Noted, _Taylor_.”

 

“So…” Yuta says slowly. “Did you have a plan? Because I didn’t have a plan. I mean, this is _your_ plan. What’s the plan?”

“Yuta,” Winwin chains his bike to the rack without looking up at Yuta. “Have you never dated anyone before for real?”

“I- _What_? I’m older than you! Don’t be rude.” Yuta says defensively, trying to lean on the rack and be cool, but his hand slips. Yuta brushes his hands off haughtily. “Why? How any people have _you_ dated?”

Winwin looks thoughtful for a moment, and if it had been anyone else, Yuta would’ve assumed he’s trying to make something up.

“Just two people.” Winwin’s got a sheepish grin on. “One of them lasted nearly three years, so…”

 _Clearly_ he doesn’t know he’s dated two more people than Yuta, who couldn’t even keep a fuckbuddy for two months.

“What about you?” Winwin asks.

_Oh god Yuta you’re going to have to lie to him._

“I’ve _dated_ a bunch of people here and there,” Yuta hopes his shrug looks noncommittal and not guilty. “But nothing serious.”

“Oh,” Winwin grins. “So you’re not a serious kind of person?”

 _Not at all, kiddo, not at all._ “You seem like one.”

“I am, usually.” Winwin says.

_WHAT DOES HE MEAN BY THAT? WHAT? DOES? HE? MEAN?_

Yuta must’ve been staring blankly at Winwin for a while, because Winwin’s just started laughing.

“How about we take things slow?” Winwin says, reaching out and taking Yuta’s hand in his in such a gentle, careful way that Yuta feels something stab his heart.

 _Death, Yuta, it’s your death_.

“Tell me if I’m overdoing it.” Winwin runs his thumb over Yuta’s knuckles.

“You’re literally just holding my hand.” Yuta says, but his jaw is clenched. He’s never wanted to hold anyone’s hand _this_ bad. This is bad.

“You look like you’re about to throw up,” Winwin gives Yuta’s hand a light squeeze. “Is this really okay with you?”

“Winwin,” Yuta takes a deep breath, and drops it. “I have literally had people’s hands up my ass. This is _nothing_.”

Winwin lifts his eyebrows. “When was the last time someone held your hand?”

Yuta shuts his eyes. “Elementary, probably.”

“Aw, poor Yuta,” Winwin says, but Yuta doesn’t feel offended in the least. For some reason. Maybe it’s because Winwin’s taken both of Yuta’s hands in his, running his thumbs over Yuta’s knuckles in slow, deliberate strokes.

Yuta smiles at Winwin. “Hey, Winwin?”

“Yeah?”

“When do we graduate to kissing?”

Winwin shrugs, not letting go of Yuta’s hands. “I don’t know. Your call, I guess.”

Yuta leans forward and pecks Winwin on the lips. It’s weird. It’s not even like _actual_ kissing. But Yuta’s still grinning like it’s his first kiss – _You’re being ridiculous and you fucking know it, Nakamoto Yuta_.

Winwin cups the side of Yuta’s face in one hand, and Yuta shuts his eyes, waiting.

He’s waiting for a _while_ , so he peeks one eye open. “What’s up?”

“No one’s looking.” Winwin laughs, looking around them. Their only company in the entire square is a bronze statue of the school’s founder, and he’s not even facing their direction.

Yuta groans. Everyone’s minding their own business the _one_ time he doesn’t want them to. Typical.

“We could go to the university café,” Winwin suggests. “That place is always full of couples. And people. And stuff.”

“I hate cafés.” Yuta says. “I can’t condone them.”

 “You don’t like coffee?”

“The coffee’s fine,” Yuta says. “It’s the crass consumerism I don’t like.”

 

Yugyeom sighs. He’s tired of getting his sneakers dirty for the past few days, but hardly anyone goes through this way.

For a _reason_. A few rocks slip under Yugyeom’s foot, but Yugyeom knows that Jungkook’s going to catch him, and he does.

“This is stupid.” Yugyeom says, once he’s back on his feet.

“I just wanna hold your hand, Gyeommie,” Jungkook pouts, weaving their fingers together. “But yeah, this is stupid.”

“Don’t you think we look _even_ sketchier if we’re going around the forest – Son of a bitch.” Yugyeom says, the ground suddenly crumbling under one of his feet. This was supposed to be a scenic path between the Engineering and Social Sciences buildings, but the path itself was long gone, and hardly anyone used it now. Nobody has time for scenic nonsense.

Jungkook wraps his arms around Yugyeom from behind. “Do you need me to carry you?”

“I _need_ to stop going on fucking adventures every damn day-”

“Shhh,” Jungkook kisses Yugyeom on the cheek.

Yugyeom tries _very_ hard not to smile, but he’s a weak little bitch.

“Just let me know,” Jungkook swings Yugyeom in his arms. “And I’ll carry you the rest of the way.”

“Oh please,” Yugyeom spins around in Jungkook’s arms, slinging his own around Jungkook’s waist. “You get into the wrestling team for _one_ semester and suddenly you’re-”

Jungkook pulls Yugyeom against him, pressing their lips together to shut Yugyeom up.

“Jeon Jungkook, if we get caught-”

“Shh,” Jungkook angles his head to kiss Yugyeom without their noses bonking into each other. “There’s no one here.”

Yugyeom can’t argue with that. It’s as if the birds and the squirrels in the trees are going to snitch on them.

“You know what I want?” Jungkook says, burying his face in Yugyeom’s shoulder.

“I’m not having sex in the forest.”

“No, no,” Jungkook laughs, pushing the collar of Yugyeom’s shirt down with his nose to press a kiss against Yugyeom’s skin. “I just wanna hold your hand when we walk, and kiss at pedestrian stoplights-”

“Like the hets?”

“Yeah.” Jungkook squeezes his arms around Yugyeom tightly. “Just like the hets.”

They jump when they hear a twig snap, flying apart.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Jeon,” Jungkook’s coach shifts his eyes from Jungkook, who looks like a terrified woodland creature, to Yugyeom, who looks like a taller and more terrified woodland creature. “And…?”

“This is my, uh, my friend Yugyeom.” Jungkook runs a hand through his hair anxiously. “So, Coach, what’re you doing out here?”

“Going for a jog,” The coach says, and well, he’s wearing the right outfit and Bluetooth earphones for it.

“Oh, that’s… That’s great!” Jungkook’s smile would be cute, if it weren’t so guilty. Yugyeom pinches Jungkook’s pinky finger urgently. “I, uh, we have a class to get to, Coach, so uh, we’ll be going now,”

“There’s no training today.” The coach says, looking down at Yugyeom’s fingers still coiled around Jungkook’s pinky finger.

Yugyeom drops them, pinning his hands to his sides, but it’s too late. Jungkook’s smile falters. He can almost see the gears turning in his coach’s head.

And he doesn’t like it.

Jungkook weaves his fingers in with Yugyeom’s, gripping Yugyeom’s hand tight even when the latter tries to tug his hand free.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then, Coach,” Jungkook tips one hand off his forehead, and pulls Yugyeom down the nonexistent path with the other, leaving the wrestling team’s coach standing in the dirt, stunned.

“Jungkook, you dumbass-”

“It was worth it.” Jungkook leans to kiss Yugyeom on the side of his jaw.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bad things are going to happen


	5. Haru haru (Japanese Ver.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Winwin, aside from the fact that putting those two words together makes you sound like, 50 years old,” Mingyu groans. “How are we going to force our protest to go viral? College students protest all the time without it going viral. It’s just white noise to adults at this point.”
> 
> “Well…” Winwin frowns, deep in thought. “We can be… creative?”
> 
> Bambam raises his hand calmly. “I volunteer to streak in front of the admin.”

“You did _what_?”

“It wasn’t me,” Yugyeom hisses urgently, keeping an eye on the professor droning on in front of the room. “It was Jungkook.”

 “You didn’t _stop_ him?” Mingyu gasps, already leaning over the space between their seats. It doesn’t matter if the professor hears them, because he can definitely _see_ Mingyu.

“I tried – but you know how he is,” Yugyeom sighs. “What if he gets kicked off the team?”

“It’s their loss.” Minghao says, from Yugyeom’s other side. “They can’t afford to lose Jungkook this close to the qualifiers.”

“You mean,” Yugyeom says. “Jungkook can’t afford to get kicked out this close to the qualifiers.”

Minghao sighs. Yugyeom’s not wrong.

“What are we going to do?” Mingyu asks, clicking and unclicking his pen anxiously.

“What _can_ we do?” Yugyeom slumps over in his seat. “Jungkook’s such a fucking idiot.”

 

“Think about it this way,” Winwin says, lowering a tray onto the table before Yuta. “Since _I_ bought the coffee, you’re not contributing to the crass capitalist machine or anything.”

Yuta frowns at the cup of iced coffee innocently collecting dew on the table before them. “It’s only one.”

“I figured you wouldn’t want me to contribute _that_ much to the consumerists,” Winwin rummages around his pocket. “So I just bought one drink and got two straws.”

“ _Straws_?” Yuta’s eyes widen at the two green straws Winwin’s currently squeezing into the top of the coffee cup. “Do you- I can’t- _THE TURTLES!_ ”

Winwin freezes. “Um. I can’t really put them _back_ , so…”

“Oh my god,” Yuta takes a deep breath. “Winwin, the _turtles_. They’re dying.”

“Oh.” Winwin’s face blanches. “Oh god. The turtles.”

Winwin drops the straws and leans back in his seat, staring dead ahead with unblinking eyes.

“Winwin?” Yuta taps Winwin gently on the edge of his arm. “Winwin?”

“How many turtles have I killed?” Winwin gasps.

“I, uh… Well not all straws kill turtles,” Yuta says. “Some of them are recycled properly and become furniture or shit. But that’s just a really small fraction of all straws, so- I mean, it’s not like you’re one of those people who poach turtles-”

“People _poach_ turtles?” Winwin’s eyes only grow wider. “Like elephants and rhinos? _What_?”

“Um…” Yuta’s not good at sugarcoating things, but he’s determined to try now. “Yes they do.”

He never claimed to be good at sugarcoating things.

Winwin looks so distraught that it stirs something in Yuta’s chest. _Latent tuberculosis, maybe_.

“Come on, it’s okay, you didn’t know,” Yuta says, wrapping an arm around Winwin’s shoulders. He rubs the angle of Winwin’s shoulders gently. “It’s not your fault.”

Winwin actually sniffles, turning to Yuta with a slightly red nose. “I’m never touching straws again.”

Yuta smiles and, cupping Winwin’s chin with his free hand, leans forward to plant a peck on Winwin’s lips.

Yuta feels Winwin smile against his lips, and tilts his head for another kiss.

Yuta’s just about to open his mouth for a third kiss when he hears someone say Winwin’s name.

Winwin breaks away, turning with a smile. “Hi, Jaehyun.”

Yuta frowns. He’s heard that name before, but he doesn’t recognize the Disney twink standing by their table at _all_.

“Oh, this is my friend Jaehyun,” Winwin says, gesturing at said Disney twink. “Jaehyun, this is-”

“Nakamoto Yuta. Winwin’s told us all about you.” Jaehyun sits down across the two of them.

Yuta turns to Winwin. “What about me?”

“Nothing,” Winwin looks genuinely confused. “What did I tell you guys?”

“Nothing,” Jaehyun leans back in his seat, stretching his arms. Yuta immediately dislikes him. He reeks of heterosexuality, or worse, centrist views. “So, how’re things going? Has Mr. Hwang caught you guys yet?”

Yuta coughs, and Winwin just says, “No, but we just got started.”

“Hm.” Jaehyun lifts an eyebrow but says nothing else.

“And please don’t ask things like that,” Winwin whispers. “We need it to look real.”

“Okay, fine.” Jaehyun takes out his phone, scrolling aimlessly down what appears to be someone’s Instagram.

Yuta wants him to leave so he can get back to kissing Winwin – _for the greater good, obviousl_ y.

“Hey Winwin,” Yuta says, holding onto one of Winwin’s arms. “Don’t you have a class in a little while?”

“Yeah. He’s my classmate.” Jaehyun says, eyes still focused on his phone.

“Oh, don’t you have a class to get to, too?” Winwin asks, gently wiggling his arm out of Yuta’s grasp.

Yuta feels hurt, but he’s not going to say anything about that, because this is all fake anyway and he’s got no right feeling _anything_. “Could you drop me off?”

“Uh,” Winwin hesitates, and it has Yuta tapping his foot impatiently into the carpet. “Sure, I guess.”

 

Three days into their arrangement, Yuta figures that they didn’t discuss the _arrangement_ side of things enough.

First of all, Winwin pushes him away every time one of Winwin’s friends show up. What’s up with that? If he were so embarrassed about Yuta, why did he even suggest this fucking thing in the first place?

Second, Winwin’s too good at kissing. He’s just _too_ good. _What the hell is up with that?_ Yuta thinks, hands searching Winwin’s back for something to grab onto while Winwin pulls him closer, sucking gently on Yuta’s bottom lip.

Yuta’s knees nearly buckle when Winwin does that.

“Hey, Yuta?” Winwin wraps his arms around Yuta’s waist, swinging him around gently.

“Uh-huh?” Yuta asks, trying not to sound or look too excited. _Please please please-_

“Nobody’s looking.”

Yuta groans internally as he looks around. Everyone’s minding their own business, including the four or five professors who’d just walked past them practically making out in front of the faculty building.

“I don’t get it. What do we need to do to get fucking _oppressed_ around here?” Yuta flops down onto the bench next to them.

“Isn’t this kind of a good thing?” Winwin asks, sitting down beside him. “This means they don’t care about the new school policy.”

“But the policy is still there,” Yuta says. “And people are getting caught.”

“Maybe not as much as last week,” Winwin says. “Maybe Mr. Hwang and his goons have lost steam or something.”

“Maybe.”

 

“FUCK MR. HWANG!”

Everyone jumps when the door to their karaoke room slams open and slams shut after a clearly livid Jungkook.

“FUCK MR. HWANG IN THE FUCKING ASS!” Jungkook throws his backpack and his duffel bag into the pile of bags in the corner of the room.

Jaehyun gently pushes the microphone away from Seokmin’s screaming mouth. “Are you going to give us any context, or…”

“What happened?” Yugyeom asks, standing up.

“I got kicked off the team! _One week before qualifiers_!” Jungkook balls one hand into a fist, and Yugyeom practically leaps over the table to stop him from punching the TV. Bambam flops over sideways into Minghao’s lap to avoid the wild Jungkook currently barreling into the couch.

“Jesus.” Mingyu says, lifting his legs to avoid Jungkook punting the base of the couch.

“FUCK THIS FUCKING UNIVERSITY AND ITS FUCKING BULLSHIT!”

Winwin frowns. Things aren’t going so well, after all.

“This is the last fucking straw,” Yugyeom says, his arms wrapped tight around Jungkook’s in a desperate attempt to keep the latter from breaking anything. “We have to fucking kill Mr. Hwang.”

“Yeah fuck Mr. Hwang!” Jungkook shouts.

“Fuck this whole university!” Seokmin sings into the microphone.

Bambam gets up on the couch to execute a perfect slut drop. “FUCK THE POLEECE!”

“FUCK THE MAN!”

“DAMN RIGHT!”

“Guys! GUYS! STOP SHOUTING SHIT LIKE THAT! WE’RE GONNA GET KICKED OUT!” Mingyu claps his hands together loudly. “Emergency meeting, assholes!”

When nobody pays attention, Minghao picks up a bottle of soju and smashes it against the wall.

The room falls quiet, save for the light feedback from the microphone that Seokmin’s finally lowered from his mouth.

“Thanks, Minghao, but that was fucking excessive.” Mingyu says, putting a hand gingerly on Minghao’s arm. Minghao just shrugs in response and brushes broken glass off the seat before sitting down demurely.

“So, _Boss_ ,” Jaehyun says, reaching for a bottle of soju, only to find it empty. “What’s the plan?”

“I don’t know!” Mingyu whines. “I was just gonna ask for suggestions.”

Jungkook raises his hand, from where Yugyeom’s holding him hostage in his lap. “Kill Mr. Hwang.”

Jaehyun starts laughing dryly, still searching the table for a single drop of alcohol. Mingyu frowns. “No, Jungkook, we can’t just _kill_ Mr. Hwang.”

“We can make it look like an accident.” Bambam says.

“It’s easier than you think.” Minghao agrees.

“No! No murder!” Mingyu sighs, sinking in his seat. “Seokmin?”

Seokmin claps his hands together excitedly, sitting up on his knees. “I thought you’d never ask! We should make a meme-”

“No memes, Seokmin.” Mingyu says, rubbing his temples.

“But a meme would solve all our prob-!”

“No memes!” Mingyu snaps.

Seokmin lowers his head dejectedly. Winwin pats Seokmin’s shoulder. “He has a point, though.”

“Does he?” Jaehyun grins, ignoring Mingyu’s _please don’t encourage this_ look. “Go on, Winwin.”

“We need to make a protest that’ll be _noticed_ ,” Winwin says, cringing at how badly his own “protest” is going. “And nothing gets more noticed than, you know, _viral memes_.”

“Winwin, aside from the fact that putting those two words together makes you sound like, 50 years old,” Mingyu groans. “How are we going to force our protest to go viral? College students protest all the time without it going viral. It’s just white noise to adults at this point.”

“Well…” Winwin frowns, deep in thought. “We can be… creative?”

Bambam raises his hand calmly. “I volunteer to streak in front of the admin-”

“No.”

“Nope.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Shut up, Bambam.”

Bambam folds his arms, burying himself in the couch with a huff. “This is bullying.”

“Bambam has a point,” Winwin starts gently, and Bambam jumps over Seokmin to hug him. “I mean-”

“No.” Jaehyun and Mingyu say at once.

Winwin manages to squirm out of Bambam’s embrace, but he doesn’t back down. “Minghao, weren’t you in a dance crew before?”

“I still am, except during Hell weeks.” Minghao says. “Why?”

“Can you ask them to show up in front of the admin tomorrow…” Winwin tries to think of a time where there’s a ton of people in the school square. “…4pm, after class?”

Minghao looks thoughtful. “I’ll see who’s not busy.”

“I’ve got new speakers, if you need music,” Jungkook says, adequately calmed down by Yugyeom’s chin on his shoulder. “I also have a switchboard, and this portable subwoofer I found online that I haven’t tried out, but yeah.”

“The camera, too,” Yugyeom says.

“Yeah, I’ve got a camera, too.” Jungkook says.

“Perfect!” Winwin beams.

“I can dance, too,” Bambam says, and when Mingyu and Jaehyun shoot him dirty looks, he adds, “With clothes on.”

“Me too,” Seokmin says. “With or without clothes is fine with me.”

“How are they going to know what we’re dancing for?” Jaehyun asks.

“Signs.” Winwin says, turning to look at Mingyu, the group’s resident design student.

“Yeah, yeah, I got you,” Mingyu says, nodding. “I’ve got extra sintra board under my bed somewhere.”

“Great!” Winwin can hardly sit still. He turns to Jaehyun, eyes wide as if to ask, _what about you_?

Jaehyun shrugs, and the room goes quiet enough for a moment for everyone to hear when he says, “I have a couple hundred thousand followers on Instagram.”

“Ugh.”

“Smug bitch.”

“Asshole.”

 

“I think I’m in love.”

Yuta makes a face. _Who the fuck even says that?_

Ten’s expression is exactly the same. “The fuck did you just say?”

“I think I’m in love.” Yuta says again, but that doesn’t make it any less weird or any more believable.

“With _whom_ the fuck?” Ten swirls his tea with one hand.

“With Winwin.”

“The _kid?_ ” Ten asks, screwing up his face further in clear judgment. He and Yuta are sitting out on the balcony of their dorm, drinking some kind of weird herbal tea Taeil found that’s supposed to help you sleep. It’s not chamomile, it’s not mint, it’s not green or white or black or red… Ten just slurps it down without another thought.

“He’s not actually a kid,” Yuta says. “He’s a sophomore.”

“Still a kid.”

“No, he’s not.”

“Look, Nakamoto, you can say whatever the fuck you want to justify your thirst, but-”

“It’s not _thirst_ ,” Yuta kicks Ten in the knee. “Well, it’s not _just_ pure thirst, it’s like, I also want… him… to… love… _me_?”

“Gross.”

“It’s like my _heart_ is thirsty,” Yuta takes a sip of his tea. “And Winwin is the only clean water left on earth.”

“Please stop talking.”

“I just want to see him every day, and holding his hand is enough for me? When has holding hands _ever_ been enough? But it is? Because it’s him?” Yuta ignores the fake gagging noises Ten is making. “And when he smiles, it’s like… I don’t know, _world peace_? Everything is all right all of a sudden? It’s like he can fix everything even though I know _objectively_ that no one person can fix everything, but it feels like he can-”

Ten grabs Yuta’s mug out of his hands and pours all of its contents into the nearest potted plant.

Yuta gasps. “What’d you do that for?”

Ten starts pouring his own drink into the same poor, potted plant. “I don’t know what this shit is, but it’s bad shit.”

Yuta sighs and leans back against the sliding door. “What do I do?”

“Stop eating and drinking shit that Taeil brings home, for starters?” Ten grumbles, tapping his mug out on the edge of the pot. “Only Johnny actually finds the good shit.”

Yuta sighs again – Ten flinches visibly, like if Yuta does that one more time, Ten’s going to strangle him or something. “When did you realize you were in love with Johnny?”

“I’m not.” Ten says tensely. “Okay, I’m in love with his dick, maybe, but the rest of him, _ehh…_ I can live without.”

Yuta starts laughing, and doesn’t stop even when Ten whacks him on the arm.

“I knew we couldn’t trust Taeil.” Ten grumbles, kicking Yuta in the shin. “Fucking Taeil.”

“You know, the sooner you stop fucking around and pretending you’re some heartless slut,” Yuta says. “The better it’ll be for everyone. Especially Johnny.”

Ten folds his arms and blows his hair out of his eyes. “I thought you were asking _me_ for advice.”

“I was-” Yuta’s phone vibrates in his pocket, and doesn’t stop. Yuta picks up, and immediately smiles. “Oh hey, Winwin. No, don’t worry, you didn’t wake me. Why?”

“Ugh.” Ten rolls his eyes. He stands up, taking both the empty mugs with him. “Excuse my ass, I’m just going to go blow the _love of my life_.”

“Have fun,” Yuta says dismissively, waving Ten away with one hand. “Huh? No, not you, my roommate’s just making noise.”

Ten slams the door to the balcony shut behind him.

“You want to see me _right now_?” Yuta sits up. “But it’s… late? Nobody’s going to catch us-”

“Yeah, I know. Even Mr. Hwang sleeps.” Winwin laughs on the other end. “But there’s something I want to tell you in person. I mean, if that’s okay?”

Yuta’s heart is hammering in his chest. “Yeah, it’s fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a note: I do sound like I make a whole lot of protest jokes, but I'm not against protesting, and I don't look down on it. Sometimes there's no other way for the dumbasses in power to _see_ what's going on around them but to shove it in their thick faces. At the same time, if you're going to protest, please stay safe and prepare contingency plans in case things go awry.
> 
> Also a note: Please try to stop using plastic straws altogether, please. For the turtles and the Winwins of the world. Metal straws need to be mined, and paper straws make a whole lot of waste, too, so just try 2 suck it up and well... suck it up without using a straw.
> 
> ON A LESS SERIOUS NOTE: LMAO TEN IS TURNING INTO A SELF-INSERT hahahahhuhu own up to your feelings, bitch


	6. T T (Japanese Ver.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh, hey Momo!” Winwin grins at her.
> 
> “Hi! Looks like you guys could use a little more L in the LGBT, you get me?” She asks, already tearing off her windbreaker to reveal a rainbow sports bra underneath. 
> 
> Winwin’s heart melts. “Of course!”

Yuta’s a lying bitch if he isn’t just exploding with hope right now. He doesn’t even care that all his roommates – all 100 of them, so it seems – came out to the balcony to squint at Winwin when the latter arrived to pick Yuta up.

Winwin’s still squinting up at the crowd assembled at the balcony, waving in a half-friendly half-unsure way. “Are those your room-”

“Yeah, don’t mind them, don’t even look at them,” Yuta says, taking Winwin by the arm and all but dragging him up the street. “Let’s go somewhere they can’t spy on us.”

“O- Okay,” Winwin laughs, shaking Yuta’s hands off his arm.

Yuta’s so hurt he’s about to cry, but then Winwin takes one of his hands and twines their fingers together. Yuta still wants to cry, either way.

“What did you want to say?” Yuta asks, cutting straight to the chase.

“Oh, it’s great,” Winwin’s face lights up in the glow of the convenience store they’re passing. Yuta wants desperately to kiss him then and there. “My friends and I have this dance protest thing planned for tomorrow – One of them is bringing his dance crew, someone’s gonna take a video the whole thing, and we’re gonna post it online, and… Is something wrong?”

Yuta realizes how disappointed he must look, and plasters on a smile. “No, that’s- That sounds great!”

“Right?” Winwin smiles so hard his eyes become happy little half-moons. “I’m so glad all my friends are in on it – I mean, I’m not happy they’re actually getting in trouble, but I’m glad I’m not alone anymore.”

“Alone?”

“I mean, it’s not just me and you trying to do something.” Winwin squeezes Yuta’s hand excitedly. “We’ve got so much backup now!”

“That’s… great.”

“And now we don’t need to pretend to be dating anymore!” Winwin swings their arms, but Yuta doesn’t play along. Winwin drops Yuta’s hand, sighing. “I know you hated it-”

“Who said I hated it?”

“You didn’t need to,” Winwin says. “You were always so grumpy about it, I felt kind bad for stringing you along with my stupid plan.”

“It wasn’t stupid.” Yuta says. “It would’ve worked.”

“No, I don’t really think so.” Winwin shrugs. “Maybe the teachers could tell we were faking so they ignored us on purpose? I mean, we were a bit obvious about trying to get caught.”

Yuta turns to watch a cat dive into a nearby garbage can, chewing on his bottom lip. “Were we?”

“I guess so?” Winwin takes a deep breath, despite the fact that they’d just walked past a trash heap. “Anyway, you’ll be there tomorrow, right?”

Yuta’s watching a cockroach cross the street. “Huh?”

“The protest tomorrow? At 4? We’ll be in the university square, facing the admin building.” Winwin draws a little map in the air with one index finger. “I mean, I’m not – it’s okay if you can’t make it.”

Yuta just nods. “Okay.”

 

Ten yawns, crossing the kitchen to hug Johnny from behind. Not because they’re dating. Ten just feels cold. Yup, that’s it. Ten feels cold. “’Morning.”

“’Morning, babe.” Johnny holds a mug of coffee out to him.

Ten takes the mug, tiptoeing to peck Johnny on the cheek. _Oh, shit_. _Yuta might be right_.

“Where’s Yuta?” Ten asks, sitting down at the breakfast table.

“Still in bed.” Taeil shrugs, scooping out some rice and scrambled eggs into a bowl. He reaches for the ketchup and squirts out enough to make his bowl look like a stew, much to Kun’s disgust.

“Hey Taeyong, your ex is inviting people to some… protest later?” Kun frowns at his phone as he sips his coffee.

“Which one?”

“Taeyong, you _asshole_.” Kun puts his coffee down. “The freshman from last year. Jung Jaehyun.”

“Oh, what? We weren’t dating,” Taeyong scoffs. He looks thoughtful as he scoops six spoons of sugar into his coffee “Didn’t think he was the protesting type, though. That’s kinda hot.”

“So you find Yuta hot?” Ten smirks, stealing the jar of sugar before Taeyong can get a seventh scoop.

Taeyong’s mouth straightens out into a grim line. “It’s hot on anyone except Yuta.”

“I can’t believe you’ve reduced activism to a _kink_.” Yuta grumbles, walking into the kitchen and making his way straight to the freezer to get a cold pack.

“Everything’s a kink for Taeyong.” Kun hums, sipping his coffee.

“Yikes.” Johnny says under his breath.

Yuta presses the cold pack to his swollen eyes, stumbling around blind to get a plate and put some scrambled eggs on it. The scrambled eggs end up on Taeil’s hand.

“The fuck happened to you?” Ten frowns at Yuta.

Taeil looks down at the scrambled eggs on his hand, thinks for only a moment, then leans forward and slurps it up.

“Nothing.” Yuta grumbles, still holding the cold pack to his eyes as he sits down approximately next to Kun.

“I heard him crying all night.” Johnny says in a low voice, but clearly not low enough.

“I wasn’t, you shithole!” Yuta snaps. “I’m having an allergy.”

“He’s allergic to sadness.” Johnny says, trying to lower his voice further, but if Johnny came with volume settings, they’re obviously broken.

“Fuck you, Johnny, your _bitch_ is allergic to commitment.”

Ten nearly drops his sugar spoon. “Fuck _you_ , Nakamoto!”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Taeyong says, holding an arm out to stop Ten from pouncing Yuta and scratching his eyes out like a rabid street cat. “Yuta, for fuck’s sake, it’s six in the morning, can you _not_ be such a bitch for a few more hours?”

“And we thought you’d be civil since you’ve got a new boyfriend and shit,” Kun mutters, tipping the rest of his coffee into his mouth.

“I don’t have a boyfriend.” Yuta says.

“Really?” Ten says, sitting on the counter, a safe two meters away from Yuta. “’Cause last night you wouldn’t shut up about how _in love_ you were with Whatshisname-”

“ _Winwin_.” Yuta corrects him agitatedly. Taeil and Kun are already scooting out of the line of fire between their roommates.

“Yeah, whatever your boyfriend’s name is-”

“He’s not my boyfriend! He wasn’t before, he’s not now, and he’s not going to be, _ever_!” Yuta snaps at Ten. He settles back in his seat, tears rolling out from under the cold pack he’s still covering his eyes with.

Kun and Taeyong exchange nervous glances. Taeil pushes his scrambled eggs around in his ketchup-filled bowl, and Johnny lets out a low – but not low enough – whistle.

“Oh, shit.” Ten lowers the spoon he’s had ready to defend himself. “I’m sorry, Yuta.”

“It’s not your fault, is it?” Yuta blinks into the cold pack, but it’s making his eyes sting. He tosses the cold pack onto the kitchen table, drying his eyes aggressively on his sweater sleeve. “It’s mine. I was a fucking idiot.”

“Come here,” Ten says, hopping off the counter with his arms open. Yuta grumbles, but leans his head against Ten’s chest while Ten wraps his arms around him, patting Yuta’s back gently. “This is why we never let ourselves catch feelings, Yuta.”

 

Winwin can hardly listen in class, not that he’s ever able to with this professor.

“Only three guys from my dance crew can make it later,” Minghao whispers. “But they’re the best ones, and they’re really stoked.”

“Great.” Winwin gives him two thumbs up under the table.

“And you should see the signs, they’re really something,” Minghao beams. “Gyu and I stayed up all night making them.”

Winwin frowns. “Are you sure you guys are up to this without sleeping-”

“Of course.” Minghao says. “Gyu hasn’t been able to sleep properly anyway, with all the shit that’s been happening lately.”

“Really?” Winwin asks, turning to Minghao, never mind what the professor thinks.

“Yeah.” The corners of Minghao’s mouth pull down into a worried frown. “He probably wouldn’t have wanted me to tell you, but… yeah.”

“I won’t tell anyone.”

 

Mingyu looks lively enough as he helps Jungkook lift their makeshift sound equipment from Jaehyun’s car, but his breath smells a _lot_ like 3-in-1 coffee and ginseng. Jungkook and Yugyeom start setting up the sound system, while Minghao and his dance crewmates attempt to teach Bambam how to stretch properly.

Winwin’s chewing on a nail anxiously when someone throws something over his eyes.

“Hey-” Winwin’s head gets tugged back when someone ties the bandanna over his eyes. He pushes it up to his forehead. “What’s-”

“Everyone gets one of these.” Jaehyun taps the rainbow bandanna around his arm.

Winwin watches Seokmin walk past with an armful of signs and a matching rainbow bandanna around his forehead. “Where’d the bandannas come from?”

“I painted them last night, so we only have a dozen,” Mingyu says, looking just a little bit feverish.

Winwin gasps. “ _Only_? Mingyu this is…”

“Too much?” Jaehyun asks, wiping the camera of his phone clean on his sweater sleeve.

“ _So_ much!” Winwin says excitedly, jumping and hugging Mingyu. “You’re the best!”

Mingyu smiles with a distant look on his face, patting Winwin’s arms.

“Sound system’s good, and so is the camera,” Jungkook says, holding said camera at waist level as he films Winwin squeezing Mingyu excitedly.

“That’s great!” Winwin beams, right into the camera. “Are we ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Yup.”

“LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

“Music please,” Minghao says, shooting a finger gun in Jungkook’s direction.

Jungkook nods solemnly and starts playing the music at an obnoxious level, the bass blasting loud enough from his portable subwoofer to rattle everyone’s ribcages.

Minghao and his friends immediately break into slut drops, while Bambam and Seokmin cheer for all they’re worth.

A small crowd of curious students gather around, giggling at Minghao and company’s choreography to Britney Spears’ _Toxic_. Their phones come out less than a second later, and Winwin and Mingyu promptly hold up their signs to face the cameras.

Winwin tilts his _EQUAL RIGHTS FOR LGBT+ STUDENTS NOW!_ sign to keep it from reflecting the light, while Mingyu waves his _DOWN WITH SCHOOL POLICY #____!_ sign angrily.

“Hey!”

Winwin and Mingyu turn to find one of their other friends waving at them – well, she took an English class with them once, and wrote her part of the paper, so Winwin supposes she could be called their friend.

“Oh, hey Momo!” Winwin grins at her.

“Hi! Looks like you guys could use a little more L in the LGBT, you get me?” She asks, already tearing off her windbreaker to reveal a rainbow sports bra underneath.

Winwin’s heart melts. “Of course!”

Two of Momo’s friends seem to appear out of nowhere – Sana and Chaeyoung, apparently, as Momo introduces them in a garbled rush. Sana’s hair is completely rainbow (Winwin hopes it’s a wig, for her sake), and she immediately joins Momo in the middle of their makeshift dance floor, whipping her rainbow hair so hard Winwin worries for her neck. Chaeyoung’s a little more reserved, with just two little rainbows painted on the apples of her cheeks.

“Mingyu-oppa!” Chaeyoung grabs the sign Mingyu’s holding. “These are so great!”

Mingyu blushes almost demurely. “Aw, thanks.” He wraps an arm around the much smaller girl. “Hey Winwin, have you met Chaeyoung? She’s one of the freshies in my college,”

“Nice to meet you! Thanks for coming!” Winwin accepts a crisp high-five, and reaches for their stack of signs. Chaeyoung picks one that reads, _LET ME HOLD MY GIRLFRIEND’S HAND IN PUBLIC!_ – Mingyu had really thought of everything.

 

“Nakamoto!”

Yuta doesn’t turn around, and power-walks towards the classroom’s exit. Nayoung’s probably here to gas him for something or the other, and he’s just not in the _mood_.

“Hey! Yuta!” Nayoung inevitably catches up to him and grabs him by the arm. “Bitch!”

“What do you want?” Yuta asks irritably.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Yuta narrows his eyes at her. A dumb question. “I’m going home from my last class. Obviously.”

“But I thought - Didn’t you plan the protest in front of the admin?”

It takes Yuta a whole minute to realize what she’s talking about. “Oh, no, that’s not-”

“Dude! You don’t even know what _your own boyfriend_ ’s doing?”

“I don’t- _What_?”

Nayoung tilts her phone to face Yuta. On the screen is a livestream of an entire crowd of students filling up almost half the square outside the admin building. Right now, they’re all doing the kick and step while holding up signs and rainbow flags, and Yuta’s about to cringe at how very _Gen Z-ish_ it all is, but then Winwin comes onscreen, holding up a sign that reads, _LET ME HOLD MY BOYFRIEND’S HAND IN PUBLIC!_

Yuta’s confused, and hurt, and stupidly hopeful, because all common sense he usually has melts away when Winwin smiles like that.

“Come on, Nayoung. Let’s go.”

 

A hush descends on the crowd as a tall woman in high heels comes through, parting the students like the Red Sea. Jungkook’s music cuts off abruptly, leaving nothing but the rustle of students getting out of the way, and the high heels clicketing-clacketing on the cobblestone.

“Oh shit.” The girl next to Winwin says, suddenly tearing her rainbow tiara off.

“Why?” Winwin asks, trying to see over the crowd.

“That’s Mr. Hwang’s assistant.”

Winwin’s about to ask her how she knows when the crowd parts before him, giving a view of the stern-looking woman crossing her arms.

“Okay, whose idea was this?” She asks, in a voice that carries even further than Seokmin’s with a megaphone.

Winwin opens his mouth to say something, but Mingyu pulls him backward roughly. “Shhh, don’t do anything stupid.”

“But-”

The woman uncrosses her arms and sighs loudly. “You dumbasses are facing the wrong direction.” She points at a set of windows in the other wing of the admin building. “That’s where Mr. Hwang’s office is.”

There’s this tense, quiet moment as everyone’s midterm-weary brains try to process what Mr. Hwang’s assistant just said. Then Seokmin jumps up suddenly, screeching triumphantly like a tropical bird as he turns Jungkook’s entire sound system to face the other wing. The rest of the crowd follows, carrying on with their cheering and dancing as they turn to face Mr. Hwang’s office.

The woman smirks as she starts to make her way back out of the crowd, head ducked as she chuckles to herself.

Jungkook blasts the music again, now playing SHINee with the bass bouncing off the cobblestoned square. Minghao’s dance crewmate, Soonyoung, starts leading the crowd to the left, then to the right, dancing like a man possessed by some kind of party drug.

Winwin joins in, then decided he wants to step out of the crowd for some air. He’s concerned that no one but Mr. Hwang’s assistant has minded them in the past half hour or so, but he’s also happy that so many people turned up or joined in – he can’t wait to tell Yuta.

“Yuta!”

Yuta gives him a half-smile. Winwin’s concerned that Yuta’s not as excited about all this as he’d expected the latter to be, but he’s also happy to see him.

“Hey Winwin, this is awesome,” Nayoung says, patting Winwin on the shoulder before getting sucked up into the crowd currently trying to dance to a mashup of SHINee’s entire discography.

Winwin looks at Yuta, who’s just glancing – _wistfully?_ at the crowd. “Are you okay?”

“Huh?” Yuta cups a hand around his ear. Jungkook’s music is _loud_ , the crowd is _louder_ , and Seokmin and Bambam’s combined efforts are the _loudest_ thing Winwin’s ever heard.

Winwin takes Yuta by the arm and pulls him closer. “Are you okay?” He asks again.

“Wha- Uh, yeah. Yeah.” Yuta nods, like he’s trying to convince himself. “Yeah.”

Winwin lets go of his arm self-consciously. _Right. Not my fake boyfriend anymore_. “I, uh. Sorry. I’m glad you’re here.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Yuta frowns.

Winwin’s trying to think of something else to say, when a weird sound comes from the crowd. He turns to find people dispersing suddenly, running away in every direction, jumping over the flowerbeds and fences, taking their rainbow flags with them.

Winwin puts an arm around Yuta’s shoulders on instinct, pulling him away from the mess.

“Who the hell-” Mr. Hwang’s voice strides above the noise. Soon enough, his cherry-red face comes into view. He’s furious, as Winwin hoped he’d be, but he’s also got around thirty policemen behind him.

Jungkook scrambles to pick up his equipment while Yugyeom tries to drag him away, Jaehyun’s phone is already pocketed as he dashes to start the car, and Minghao, Seokmin, and Chaeyoung help Mingyu collect what’s left of his signs. Momo lifts the entire subwoofer and runs off, with Sana screeching behind her.

Bambam walks up confidently to Mr. Hwang, reaches down for his baggy pants, then tears them off with a very loud Velcro rip.

Bambam’s ultra-short pleather hot pants shine with the message FUCK YOU printed on his ass, which he promptly twerks at Mr. Hwang as he screams, “EQUALITYYYY!”

Minghao dives out of nowhere and all but carries Bambam away, the latter still screaming random words like, “JUSTICE! FAIRNESS! YOU UGLY!”

Winwin doesn’t notice that Yuta’s holding his hand until Mr. Hwang’s standing in front of them.

Winwin drops Yuta’s hand. “Good afternoon, Mr. Hwang.”

The discipline officer takes no notice of him. “Mr. Nakamoto, this is the last straw.”

Yuta’s mouth drops open, but he says nothing. Winwin steps in front of him. “Mr. Hwang, he doesn’t have anything to do with this, it was _my_ idea-”

“Get the one with the purple hair.” Mr. Hwang instructs the policemen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my dream is to witness an entire crowd of Gen Zs doing the kick and step for LGBT+ rights
> 
> the closest thing we have is Pentagon's Shine  
> 


	7. Everybody (Japanese Ver.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Winwin frowns when he gets back to his dorm room to find all his friends seated on the floor of his and Jaehyun’s dorm room. “What…”
> 
> “We did it!” Mingyu says, pulling a bottle of champagne out of his jacket. 
> 
> “We made the evening news!” Bambam dabs so hard he punches the wall. 
> 
> “The videos came out so well,” Yugyeom says, taking one of Jungkook’s hands in his. 
> 
> “Guys!” Winwin closes the door behind him quickly. “How did you get in here?”
> 
> “You left your window open.” Minghao says, nodding at the sixth-floor window behind him.

Jaehyun can’t take this anymore. Ever since they’ve gotten back to the dorm, Winwin’s been lying on his bed, still wearing his clothes from earlier (atrocious), just staring at the news updates on his phone with a dull expression.

Jaehyun shuts his laptop. “Are you mad at me, Win?”

“Yes.”

“What did you want me to do? Leave you there to get arrested?”

“Yes.”

“Winwin, for fucks’ sake-” Jaehyun takes a deep breath. “Look, Nakamoto was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and everyone knows Mr. Hwang has it out for him-”

“He’s not picking up his phone.”

“It’s probably been taken away from him.”

When Winwin doesn’t reply, Jaehyun sits at the edge of his bed and taps him on the knee. Winwin’s face is still blank, but he’s chewing on his lip as he stares dead ahead at his phone.

“Winwin.” Jaehyun says gently. “I’m sorry.”

Winwin just keeps scrolling, his eyes getting a little bit watery under the bluish light.

“Winwin- What do you want to do?” Jaehyun sighs. “What _can_ we do?”

His roommate doesn’t reply. He simply stands up and pockets his phone. “I’m going to the police.”

“No! Winwin!” Jaehyun grabs a pair of jeans and car keys as he runs after Winwin. “He might’ve been let go- He might be at home!”

Winwin frowns at him.

“I’ll drive you there.” Jaehyun says, almost desperately. “Please.”

 

Ten’s on the balcony, pretending to smoke when he sees a mom-ish kind of SUV roll to a stop before their building. _This looks interesting_ , He thinks. He’s getting tired of pretending to smoke. The truth is that he’s been avoiding Johnny, who hates cigarettes on principle.

Ten tosses the unlit cigarette aside and slides the balcony door open. “There’s someone at the door.”

Kun rolls his eyes, swirling a tea bag around in his mug. “There are literally fifty-something other people in this building, they could be here for any other-”

“Maybe it’s Yuta.” Taeyong says, scrambling to change into his outside slippers.

Ten glances at Johnny, who’s busy angrily typing a reply to someone. Ten looks away before Johnny notices him and dashes out after Taeyong.

They run down the stairs to find two people trying to figure out the antiquated doorbell system of their building.

Ten frowns. “…Winwin?”

Winwin looks up. “Oh, hello-”

“Jaehyun?” Taeyong skids to a stop, his slippers screeching on the floor. “I, uh… Hi.”

“Hi, Taeyong.” Jaehyun scowls.

“Is Yuta here?” Winwin asks.

“No, we were hoping you were… him.” Taeyong says distractedly.

“Ok. Sorry to bother you.” Winwin turns on his heel and starts running.

Jaehyun stops glaring at Taeyong for a moment. “Wait, Winwin, where are you- Winwin! Dammit.”

 

Yuta’s been arrested before – Two times, actually, for “disturbing the peace.” But on both other occasions, he’d been angry about it, because he’d been dragged away in the middle of a protest.

He hadn’t even been part of this protest, so now he feels weird. _Innocent?_

_No, confused_.

When he closes his eyes and cracks his neck, all he sees is Winwin looking at him, eyes wide with concern. _“Are you okay?”_

And then, _“I’m glad you’re here.”_

Yuta opens his eyes to find Mr. Hwang glowering at him from behind the policeman asking him a few questions.

“Well?” Mr. Hwang asks irritably. “Was it you? Did you plan that whole thing?”

Yuta thinks about Winwin. “Yes.”

“Mr. Nakamoto, you do realize this is your third offense, and-”

“We were just dancing.” Yuta says. “Is there a law against dancing?”

“ _Dancing_.” Mr. Hwang scoffs. “You could hardly call such lewd gestures _dancing_.”

The policeman ignores Mr. Hwang. “There is no law against dancing in public, of course, but we received several noise complaints-”

“From him?” Yuta asks, nodding at Mr. Hwang, who clenches his jaw. “Also, he’s not allowed to be here while I’m making my statement, right?”

“Mr. Hwang _generously_ made an agreement with us to drop the complaints-”

Yuta frowns. “What?”

“-Provided that you be sanctioned under the university’s discipline system instead.” The policeman slides Yuta’s things across the table.

Yuta sucks his cheeks in. The discipline officer must have deeper pockets than he thought.

Someone knocks on the door of the holding room. The policeman, clearly ready to be done with all this and go home, mutters, “What is it?”

The door opens. A young policewoman reads off a scrap of paper in her hand. “There’s a visitor here for Nakamoto Yuta? His… brother.”

Both Yuta and Mr. Hwang ask, “ _Who_?”

 

“-It’s not a bailable offense sir, and besides, all complaints against Mr. Nakamoto are being dropped,” The exhausted policeman at the front desk sighs. “Yes. Please take your money back.”

Yuta follows Mr. Hwang and the tired policeman out into the precinct’s lobby.

Yuta doesn’t know what to feel when he finds Winwin trying to slide crumpled bills and spare change across the counter to the exhausted policeman at the front desk.

“That’s not Nakamoto’s brother.” Mr. Hwang says. “How blind could you all be?”

The tired policeman just uncuffs Yuta and shrugs. “Since he’s no longer under arrest, it doesn’t really matter who picks him up.”

“Wait-”

Yuta runs over to Winwin before anyone can stop him. And he takes Winwin in his arms, kissing him flat on the lips.

Winwin blinks at Yuta for a moment, then kisses him back.

The policeman at the desk leans back in surprise, then chuckles. “Please don’t forget your money.”

Winwin swipes up the money and pockets it, taking Yuta’s hand with his free hand. “Let’s go?”

 

“There’s no way anyone would believe you’re my brother,” Yuta laughs, feeling like a weight’s been lifted off his shoulders when he twines his fingers with Winwin’s.

“It was worth a shot.” Winwin laughs, then his face falls. “I’m sorry for dragging you into all this.”

“What?”

“If it weren’t for me telling you to go to the protest, you wouldn’t have been arrested-”

“Chill, Winwin,” Yuta squeezes Winwin’s hand. “It’s okay. Mr. Hwang’s dropping everything.”

“Just like that?” Winwin’s eyes widen under the faint glow from the streetlights.

“Yeah.” Yuta lies, pulling Winwin closer. “Just like that.”

Winwin kisses him again, just a quick peck on the lips since no one’s looking. Yuta feels warm down to his toes, until Winwin says, “I don’t believe you.”

“Fine.” Yuta sighs. “He made some deal with the police to let me go so I’d feel _indebted_ to him-”

“What’s the catch.”

“The discipline office will figure out my punishment.”

“No,” Winwin gasps. “But you didn’t even _do_ anything, it was my idea-”

“And it was a great idea,” Yuta says. “I’m really proud of you.”

Winwin’s mouth falls open, like he’s conflicted between saying five different things. “Th- thank you, but I can’t have anything bad happening to you because I-”

“I can take it.”

“ _Yuta_.” Winwin pulls his mouth into a straight, determined line. “I’m going to Mr. Hwang tomorrow. I’ll explain everything-”

“Don’t you dare.”

“But it’s not fair!” Winwin’s grip tightens on Yuta’s hand.

“None of this was fair to begin with!” Yuta tugs his hand out of Winwin’s grasp.

“That’s not the point!” Winwin clenches his fists.

“The _point_? The _point_ -” Yuta’s blood is rushing to his head so fast he can hardly form sentences. “The point is that I love you! And I’d gladly take the fall for you! Any time! It’s sad as fuck, but that’s how it is! Okay?”

Winwin’s fists unfurl, but he doesn’t say anything.

“You should get back to your dorm.” Yuta’s voice has lowered to a hoarse, embarrassed whisper. “I can take you there-”

“I’ll manage.” Winwin says curtly. “Good night, Yuta.”

Winwin’s already halfway down the street when Yuta manages to say, “Good night.”

 

Ten’s on the balcony again, pretending to have needed a second smoke after watching Taeyong and Jaehyun shout at each other for around ten minutes, when he sees Yuta trudging up the street, hands stuffed into his jacket pockets. Ten slides the balcony door open. “Guys! Yuta’s back!”

All five of them – Taeil emerges from his room, which smells like a potpourri storage room – run out the door and down the stairs to meet Yuta at the door before the latter even gets to ring the doorbell.

“YUTA!”

Yuta opens his mouth in protest, but gets stifled by a roommate dogpile before he can say anything.

“Oh god, we were so worried-”

“What the hell happened-”

“Are you okay-”

“Guys.” Yuta shrugs his roommates off. “I’ve had a fucking _day_. I’m fucking exhausted. Can I have some fucking space? Please?”

His roommates back off, heads lowered in silent apology. Yuta brushes past them and starts up the stairs without another word.

 

Winwin frowns when he gets back to his dorm room to find all his friends seated on the floor of his and Jaehyun’s dorm room. “What…”

“We did it!” Mingyu says, pulling a bottle of champagne out of his jacket.

“We made the evening news!” Bambam dabs so hard he punches the wall.  

“The videos came out so well,” Yugyeom says, taking one of Jungkook’s hands in his.

“Guys!” Winwin closes the door behind him quickly. “How did you get in here?”

“You left your window open.” Minghao says, nodding at the sixth-floor window behind him.

“Is Jaehyun with you?” Seokmin asks.

“Ye-” Winwin realizes he’d last seen Jaehyun almost an hour ago. “-No.”

“Where’d he go?” Mingyu frowns.

“Fuck Jaehyun!” Bambam says. He puts on his terrible British accent to shout, “Crack open the champagne, my good sir!”

Mingyu’s frown deepens, but Minghao reaches into Mingyu’s jacket and pulls out six disposable cups. “I got you, my dude.”

Mingyu gasps. “ _Hao_ -”

“Chill out, Gyu,” Minghao winks at him as he pops the champagne bottle open. Champagne gushes out like a sticky fountain all over the floor of Winwin and Jaehyun’s dorm room.

“ _Guys_!” Winwin gasps, reaching into the bathroom for a roll of tissue.

“SAVE THE RICH PEOPLE BEER!” Bambam declares, and he and Seokmin drop to their knees to try to lick up as much champagne as they can.

Mingyu rips off a few squares of toilet paper, but instead of mopping the floor, he starts dabbing at Minghao’s wet jeans. “I tried to warn you.”

“It’s okay, it’ll dry by the time we go home,” Minghao says, gently brushing Mingyu’s hands away.

“Guys, _no_!” Winwin says, desperately pulling Bambam and Seokmin off the floor. “Oh god.” He says, frowning at the tongue trails in the puddle.

“You guys are disgusting.” Yugyeom groans, leaning against Jungkook’s shoulder.

“Come on, dude, let them have this,” Jungkook laughs, running his thumb over Yugyeom’s knuckles.

“Oh please-”

The door swings open violently, slamming into the wall. Jaehyun’s standing in the doorway, looking down at his friends assembled on the beds and floor with a vague expression.

“Jaehyun!” Seokmin beams.

“So glad you could make it,” Bambam says in his not-British-at-all accent.

“Where have you been?” Winwin and Mingyu ask at once.

Jaehyun starts laughing. He steps into the room, still chuckling to himself, and slams the door shut. Jaehyun shakes off his jacket and throws it onto the bed, narrowly missing Jungkook by a very dangerous inch.

The other seven can’t help but notice the dark purple marks peeking out from under Jaehyun’s collar.

“Jaehyun…” Winwin says slowly. “What…”

Jaehyun turns to them and starts laughing again. He sniffs the air, looks down at the puddle on the ground with the tracks left behind by Bambam and Seokmin, then starts laughing again. “Is that alcohol? Because I fucking need it right now.”

Minghao pours him a cup of champagne without question.

Jaehyun downs it in one gulp. He smiles at his confused friends. “So guess who I ran into again today?”

Winwin sighs. “ _Taeyong_? Really?”

“I thought you guys were done.” Jungkook says.

“I thought you were over him.” Mingyu frowns.

Jaehyun starts laughing again, holding out an empty hand to Minghao. “Just give me the whole bottle, man.”

 

Ten’s tiptoeing to the kitchen to get a glass of water when he hears something rustle in the dark.

Ten frowns. He’s heard their building’s haunted, but what’s he supposed to say to a ghost?

“H- hey, what’s up?” Ten says finally.

A dark figure rises from behind the couch. “Ten?”

“Johnny?” Ten flicks the kitchen light on. Johnny’s sitting up on the floor beside the couch, where Taeil’s sleeping soundly, an eye mask over his eyes. Ten walks into the kitchen as planned, not looking back at Johnny. He’s not sure why he’s avoiding him exactly, but living in the same house is making it _very_ hard. “Why are you out here?”

“Yuta… uh… kicked us out.” Johnny mumbles sleepily.

Ten puts his glass down indignantly. “The fuck? That bitch really thinks he can-”

“Let him be, he’s had a bad day.” Johnny yawns, his eyes still shut. “A _really_ bad day.”

“That’s no excuse for making you sleep on the fucking floor.” Ten says, already stomping to the rooms.

Sure enough, the door’s locked. Ten pounds his fist on the door. “NAKAMOTO!”

“Ten, you’re going to wake everyone up,” Johnny says, walking over in that swaying, groggy way people do when their eyes are still shut.

“That’s kind of the fucking _point_.” Ten bangs his hand on the door again, harder this time. “NAKAMOTO, DON’T MAKE ME FORFEIT OUR SECURITY DEPOSIT!”

The door swings open. Yuta glowers at ten with puffy, red eyes. “Shut the fuck up, Ten, it’s like 3 in the morning.”

“Who the fuck told you that you could just kick people out of your room?” Ten squares up to Yuta, his lower jaw jutting out. “Do you fucking own it? That’s right, none of us own _any-fucking-thing_ in here –”

“Ten, I don’t have the patience or energy to deal with this-”

“I don’t care what the hell happened to you- I mean, I _do_ , but still! No excuse to be an asshole!” Ten hears the door to his, Taeyong, and Kun’s bedroom open behind him. “Now let Johnny and Taeil sleep in their fucking beds!”

“Fine!” Yuta throws his hands up. “Whatever! _I’ll_ leave!”

Ten frowns, getting pushed into the opposite doorway when Yuta shoves past him. Yuta slips on a jacket over his pajamas and slips into rubbershoes before anyone – everyone’s awake at this point, just barely, trying to understand even 1% of what’s going on – can stop him.

“Yuta!” Ten groans, picking himself up. Yuta shoved him _hard_. “Stop being a fucking drama queen!”

Johnny calmly takes Yuta by the arm and pulls him back into the kitchen. “Come on, Yuta, you know Ten didn’t mean-”

“OH _PLEASE_ , I MEANT EVERY WORD-”

“SHUT UP, TEN!” Johnny growls. “I know you think you’re trying to help, but just _shut the fuck up_!”

Ten staggers backward, shocked, then spins on his heel and shuts himself in the apartment’s one bathroom.

“Fucking bitch.” Yuta shake Johnny’s grip off and stomps over to their room, locking himself in it again.

“I’m not dealing with this shit at 3AM.” Kun announces, before shutting himself back in his, Taeyong, and Ten’s bedroom.

“We don’t have enough rooms for all the drama queens in this fucking apartment.” Taeyong groans, slumping down to sit on the hallway floor.

Johnny rubs his temples. “Tell me about it.”

Taeil rubs his eyes. “What’s going on?”

 

“Tonight is turning out less fun than I thought it’d be.” Seokmin says, rubbing Jaehyun’s back soothingly.

Jaehyun nods in agreement before returning to sobbing into his knees.

“We should probably go home soon,” Minghao says quietly, nodding over to where Bambam’s curled up on the floor, fast asleep.

“Yeah,” Mingyu rubs his eyes, then remembers he still has champagne on his hands from mopping up the mess on the floor, and regrets it immediately. “Ow.”

“Are you okay?” Minghao asks.

“Yeah, I- Are my eyes red?” Mingyu asks, leaning his face in close to Minghao’s to blink pointedly at him.

“Woah there,” Minghao laughs when Mingyu’s nose bumps against his. “Kinda, but you’re probably just sleepy.”

Winwin looks away from them respectfully, but in the other direction, Jungkook’s fallen asleep on Yugyeom’s shoulder – if his friends keep this up, it’s going to get _very_ awkward in every direction.

Winwin helps his friends sneak out of the dorm building – through the stairs this time, since they’re all too sleepy to attempt the Ezio method at this point – then comes back to the room to find Jaehyun asleep on his bed, fully clothed and absolutely wrecked by half a bottle of champagne.

Winwin turns him onto his side to help him breathe, then dims the lights. Winwin lays in bed for several hours, watching the sun rise through his window, but he can’t fall asleep.

An annoying chirping sound fills the room, and for a moment Winwin thinks it’s his alarm, then he realizes it’s a Saturday morning, and he doesn’t have any alarms set for the weekend.

He manages to fish Jaehyun’s phone out of his pocket.

_Taeyong is calling…_


	8. LOVE ME LOVE ME (Japanese Ver.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Did you mean what you said? Yesterday?”
> 
> Yuta’s head’s starting to swim. He realizes he hasn’t had dinner or breakfast. “I said a _lot_ of things yesterday.”
> 
> “You know what I mean.” Winwin’s looking out into the distance, watching a blue bird flit from tree to tree like Yuta isn’t even next to him.
> 
> “I always mean what I say.” Yuta says firmly. “That’s what gets me in trouble.”

“Jae?”

Winwin glances down nervously at Jaehyun’s snoring form. _Shit_. “Uh, no, sorry, it’s not… This is his roommate, Winwin.”

“Oh fuck. I mean, uh, hi,” Taeyong’s voice is shaky on the other side. “Where’s Jaehyun? Did something happen?”

“He’s asleep.” Winwin’s starting to sweat. “S- Sorry for picking up, it’s none of my business-”

“No, it’s okay!” Taeyong sounds as nervous as Winwin is, if not worse. “I- Actually, I wanted to talk to you.”

Winwin looks down at Jaehyun, whose nose is twitching in his sleep. Winwin nearly suffers a heart attack when Jaehyun’s arm darts up to scratch his nose. “Uh, why? Why me?”

“Did something happen to Yuta last night?” Taeyong sighs. “He locked himself in his room- Well, _a_ room, and he won’t tell us anything, and we’re getting really worried…”

“Uh, no he’s fine. I mean the police just let him go, he’s okay,” Winwin assures Taeyong, though he’s not so sure himself. Especially if Yuta’s locking himself in a room.

“That’s good to hear. Sorry for bothering you, Winwin.” Taeyong says. “Have a nice-”

“Wait, Taeyong-hyung!” Winwin chews on his lip. “Is he still there?”

“What?”

“Is Yuta there? At home?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Would it be okay if I came over?” Winwin asks gently.

Taeyong bursts out laughing. “Sure, I mean, there are way too many of us already, what’s one more person?”

“So that’s a yes…?”

“Yes, Winwin. You’re welcome to come over,” Taeyong’s laugh runs dry. “But I have to warn you, things are a complete fucking mess right now.”

 

Taeyong pockets his phone. He’s got half a mind to knock on Yuta’s door to let him know his boyfriend (?) is coming over, but he figures that Winwin will text ahead, and Yuta doesn’t want to be bothered.

He looks back at the breakfast table, where Kun and Taeil are robotically scooping rice into their mouths. “Ten’s still in the bathroom?”

“Yes.” Taeil says.

“ _Still_.” Kun emphasizes.

Taeyong sits down carefully next to Johnny, who’s just got his hands folded on the table, and a now-cold cup of coffee before him.

“What did I do wrong?” Johnny asks vaguely.

“You told your boyfriend to shut the fuck up to his face,” Kun suggests as he chews on a hard piece of overcooked chicken.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Johnny says defensively. He winces. “Was it that harsh?”

“Well, he’s locked himself in a bathroom for,” Taeil checks his watch. “Six hours, so I guess so.”

“Fuck.” Johnny slumps face-first onto the table.

Taeyong opens his mouth to say something nice, but he hears a door being unlocked. He stands up to see Ten sprinting down the hallway. “Ten!”

“ _COCKROACH!_ ” Ten screams, clambering on top of the kitchen counter.

The entire kitchen falls into a panic, with Kun screaming about bug spray under the sink, and Taeyong screaming about a broom, and Taeil worrying about the potted plant in the bathroom, and Ten trying to climb higher up their furniture, and Johnny trying to hide behind a tiny, tiny chair.

Yuta opens the door to his bedroom just as the cockroach skitters out of the bathroom. Yuta takes one dead-eyed look at the creature, which has skittered to a stop in front of him, then brings his bare foot down on it.

“YUTA!”

Yuta turns with that same dead-eyed look to face Taeyong, who’d just screamed. Yuta blinks once, twice, then suddenly realization washes over his face.

He lifts his foot, takes one look at the squashed insect stuck to the bottom of his foot, then starts crying – No, he’s not crying, he’s _bawling_ his eyes out, wailing loud enough for Winwin to hear a weird noise as he makes his way up the street on his bike.

Winwin pulls lightly on the brakes, slowing to a gentle stop in front of Yuta’s apartment building. He finds the buzzer. “Hello? Good morning, it’s me, Winwin?”

Inside the apartment, Yuta turns to his roommates with a hurt, dejected look. “What the _hell_?”

“Y-your boyfriend called-” Taeyong stammers.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Yuta shouts, kicking the dead cockroach in Taeyong’s general direction. Everyone screams and scrambles up the nearest piece of furniture. “What the fuck!”

Winwin’s voice comes over the buzzer’s speaker again. “Hello?”

Yuta stomps over, feeling the squelch underfoot that makes him want to amputate his entire leg, then slams one hand onto the button to let Winwin into the building. He’s already killed a cockroach with his bare foot, how much more can Winwin hurt him on this damn day?

 

Winwin thanks Taeil for opening the front door, then makes a face as the distinct smell of bleach hits his nose. He frowns as he steps into the apartment to find Yuta’s four other roommates on their knees, scrubbing the floor like regular Cinderellas.

Winwin keeps his shoes on. “Um… I can come back if this is a really bad time…”

“All the time’s a bad time in this fucking house,” Kun mutters.

“Yuta’s just taking a shower.” Taeyong says helpfully, his face completely red either from scrubbing so hard or inhaling so much bleach.

“He’s probably trying to cut off his foot.” Ten says, shuddering.

“Um… what?” Winwin frowns. Yuta had said his roommates were weird, but they were being _incomprehensible._

“Come in, come in,” Taeil says cordially, with a warm gesture towards the rest of the bleach-scented apartment. “Have a seat, uh…”

Taeil picks up one of the overturned chairs and rights it. “Here.”

Winwin stops in the middle of the floor. “Do you guys need help?”

“No, no!” Taeyong laughs too loudly.

“We’re fine!” Johnny insists.

“Have a seat!” Kun insists _harder_.

Winwin sits down gingerly. He feels weird watching a bunch of grown men scrub their floors obsessively at 8 in the morning, but they sort of remind him of his friends – he wouldn’t put this sort of thing past them, either – so he settles into his seat until Yuta comes out of the bathroom, toweling his hair.

“Hi.” Winwin says, giving Yuta a small wave above Yuta’s roommates wiping the floor.

“Hi.” Yuta says turning to hang his towel on a rack with five others.

“Um…” Winwin looks down at Yuta’s roommates then back up at Yuta.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

 

Yuta doesn’t want to go to the park with Winwin, because it’ll feel like a date, but there’s just no space to _breathe_ in his apartment or nearby, so he ends up sitting on a park bench next to Winwin, which feels _very_ much like a date.

They haven’t spoken to each other in almost half an hour.

“So, uh…” Yuta starts, for the third time, trailing off when he realizes he’s got nothing to say. He’s already said everything, made himself look like an idiot – the damage is done.

“Did you mean what you said? Yesterday?”

Yuta’s head’s starting to swim. He realizes he hasn’t had dinner or breakfast. “I said a _lot_ of things yesterday.”

“You know what I mean.” Winwin’s looking out into the distance, watching a blue bird flit from tree to tree like Yuta isn’t even next to him.

“I always mean what I say.” Yuta says firmly. “That’s what gets me in trouble.”

Winwin grins. “I figured as much.”

Yuta takes a deep breath. The park smells like dirt. _You’re fixating on random things to avoid the topic_. _It’s time to suck it up and be an adult, Yuta_.

“I _do_ love you.” Yuta says. “A lot.”

“I love you, too,” Winwin says with a little shrug, like he was expecting Yuta to figure that out on his own. “But that doesn’t mean I want you to take the blame for me.”

Yuta frowns. “But you don’t even have a record, besides, it’s not a big deal for _me_ -”

“I knew what I was getting into,” Winwin says. “Do you think you’re doing me a favor, letting me sit back and watch while you get in trouble for something _I_ started?”

Yuta has never loved Winwin more than right now. “No.”

“So don’t do it.” Winwin’s voice is stern, but he smiles at Yuta.

Yuta’s heart pounds against his chest. “What do you want me to do? I can’t just not do anything-”

“I’m going to Mr. Hwang on Monday to explain everything,” Winwin takes one of Yuta’s hands in his, holding it firmly. “All I need you to do is be there for me. Okay?”

Yuta nods aggressively. “Yes.”

Winwin’s shoulders droop as he lets out a breath he’d apparently been holding.

“You okay?” Yuta asks, tilting his face to look into Winwin’s eyes.

“Yeah, I…” Winwin grins. “Can we make out? I’ve had to watch my friends flirt with each other all night, I feel _so_ -”

“I got you.” Yuta cuts him off, cupping Winwin’s face in his hands to pull him in for a kiss. And a little more.

 

First thing Monday morning, Winwin bikes to Yuta’s apartment. Taeil waves at him from the balcony while Yuta runs down the stairs, skipping three at a time, his ankles be damned.

Yuta climbs up behind Winwin, wrapping his arms around Winwin’s waist and resting his face in the crook of Winwin’s neck.

“Good morning,” Yuta kisses Winwin’s neck gently.

Winwin squirms away, laughing. “Good morning.”

Yuta nuzzles into Winwin’s collar as they roll onto the university’s main avenue, only to find themselves stuck behind a few news trucks.

Winwin brakes gently, careful not to let Yuta be jostled even a little bit. “What…”

A couple eager reporters to be stopping every student they see, forcing the students to cut through the lawns just to avoid them. Winwin starts pedaling again, whizzing past a reporter who shouts after them, something about feeling harassed or oppressed in their university.

“You think this is because of…”

Winwin slams on the brakes. Parked in the admin parking lot is Mr. Hwang’s car, but covered in spray-goo in every color of the rainbow. Mr. Hwang himself is standing near the car, blowing his top off at a small crowd of reporters.

“I think it’s a bad time, maybe you shouldn’t…” Yuta says slowly, but Winwin’s already stopped the bike to let him off. Yuta stays firmly in his seat.

“Yuta, what did I say about letting me do my thing?” Winwin says in a low voice.

“ _I should let you do your thing and just cheer from the stands_ , I know,” Yuta groans, stepping off the bike.

“Atta boy,” Winwin pecks Yuta on the cheek as he leans his bike to the stand.

Yuta balls his hands into sweaty fists, stuffing them into pockets so Winwin doesn’t see. He stands by the bike like a complete fool, watching Winwin cut through the reporters with a ridiculous amount of confidence.

“Good morning, Mr. Hwang,” Winwin says. “Can we talk in your office?”

Mr. Hwang’s shoulders sag with relief. “Yes! Of course!” He turns to the reporters with a big grin. “This is one of our model students, Mr…”

Winwin only gives the discipline officer a warm smile.

“You’re so silly, you…” Mr. Hwang laughs nervously. He turns to the reporters. “I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse us, we’ve got some important matters to discuss.”

Winwin gives the reporters a curt nod before following Mr. Hwang into the building.

“Thank goodness,” Mr. Hwang sighs as he shuts the door to the building behind him. “Did you need something, Mr…?”

Winwin smiles at him, and Mr. Hwang smiles back. Winwin lets the moment drag out for a painfully long time.

“My name is Dong Sicheng, I’m a sophomore from the College of Engineering.”

“Ah, well, what can I help you with, Sicheng, my boy?” Mr. Hwang asks, clapping him cordially on the back.

“I came to talk to you about the protest last Friday-”

“Oh, that mess?” Mr. Hwang coughs, his face getting red. “Good kids like you don’t need to worry about-”

“I planned it.” Winwin says firmly. “Nakamoto Yuta had nothing to do with it. He was at a class for most of-”

“S- Stop! _What?_ ” Mr. Hwang sputters.

“I planned the protest last Friday. It was all my idea.”

“I-” Mr. Hwang laughs, leading into another coughing fit. “I don’t know what Nakamoto’s blackmailing you with, Sicheng, but whatever it is-”

“No one’s blackmailing me.” Winwin says. “I’m telling the truth. So drop all the cases against Nakamoto Yuta, and move them to me instead.”

“Stop, stop.” Mr. Hwang puts his hands up. “I don’t understand. What would a kid like you – you’re a sophomore, right? Right. Why would a kid like you even _organize_ such a thing-”

“Your policy is being used to oppress hundreds of students-”

“It’s _proper_ -”

“-And frankly, I think you should undo it.” Winwin smiles at Mr. Hwang, but the latter doesn’t return the smile this time.

“ _Undo_ it? _UNDO_? What do you think school policies are? You think they’re just made on a whim? You have the nerve to tell _me_ -”

“Mr. Hwang!” A woman’s voice carries through an open doorway.

Winwin smiles as Mr. Hwang’s assistant comes clattering out of his office in her high heels. “The president’s on the phone-”

“Son of a…” Mr. Hwang mutters under his breath, before jogging into his office.

His assistant pats Winwin gently on the arm. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, thank you.” Winwin says.

“Did you really put that whole thing together?” She asks.

“Yes.” Winwin says. His smile tilts. “Well, not on my own, my friends did a _lot_ , but yeah, it was my idea.”

“You did good.” She says, smiling till her large eyes crinkle. “Your protest was all over the Internet.”

“Thank you.” Winwin frowns. “Will Mr. Hwang shift the discipline case to me, though?”

“I’m not sure.” Mr. Hwang’s assistant says. “But-”

“Please remind him?” Winwin asks gently.

“Trust me, there’s not much Mr. Hwang can do to Nakamoto anymore.” She purses her lips. “You, on the other hand…”

“Please remind him.” Winwin insists.

Mr. Hwang’s assistant studies him for a moment. “Did Nakamoto _make_ you-”

“No. I’m just doing this because it’s the right thing.”

 

A box of celebratory Oreo balls is making its third round of the lunch table when a reporter seems to materialize next to them. Mingyu looks sharply at the others, then at the Oreo balls, as if to say, _Do something dumb and you will never so much as inhale the scent of an Oreo ball ever again._

“Excuse me, but do you boys have a moment?” The reporter asks.

Jaehyun turns to the reporter before Mingyu can stop him. “I’m sorry, but we can’t give any statements on behalf of the school.”

“You can ask the student council, if you like.” Seokmin offers. “They’re just in that building over there.”

“Ah, well,” The reporter grimaces. “You see, we wanted the take of _ordinary_ students on the matter of the school’s _anti-gay_ policies…”

Yugyeom realizes his hand’s tucked into Jungkook’s back pocket, and tries to slip it out surreptitiously. “Sorry, ma’am but we can’t help you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jungkook coughs, shifting in his seat.

The reporter narrows her eyes. “You don’t _personally_ know _anyone_ who may have suffered due to the _homophobic_ policy…?”

Mingyu chokes on an Oreo ball. Minghao pats his back, then withdraws his hand self-consciously.

“I’ve never seen a gay before.” Bambam announces.

The entire table glares at him, then straighten up under the reporter’s accusatory look.

“Nope.”

“Me neither.”

“Not me.”

“Me either.”

“We’re all straight here.”

“Guys!” Winwin says excitedly, hardly stopping to lean his bike against a nearby tree as he runs over. “Yuta’s my boyfriend _for real_ now!”

He comes close to the table, then notices his friends’ horrified faces, then notices the reporter and cameraman who’d been blocked from his view by a big tree.

“W- What he _means_ to say is,” Mingyu stutters. “They finally became _good male friends_.”

“Man friends?” Minghao suggests.

“Friendmen.” Seokmin says with the solemnity of a priest at a funeral.

“Guys…” Winwin frowns at them. “Our faces were literally on the evening news, what are you-”

“HA HA HA!” Jaehyun laughs loudly.

“HA HA HA HA!” Mingyu hollers from across the table.

The entire group breaks out in loud, disturbingly fake laugher. The reporter eventually gives up and walk off to chase two girls who’d been standing pretty close beside each other.

Winwin sits at the table, waiting for the terrible laughter to die down. “I don’t get what the deal is, we already protested and made it to the news-”

“It’s also gone viral on Twitter.” Jaehyun says.

“Some university in Thailand did the same thing this morning.”

“That’s great!” Winwin smiles, reaching for an Oreo ball. He pops it into his mouth and starts chewing. “We just need to keep this up, so they get _really_ pressured to change the -”

“It’s great and all, but we don’t want to get in any more trouble.” Mingyu says.

“That’s part of it.” Winwin frowns.

“I’ve worked too hard to get kicked out of school or some shit because I shook my ass _once_.” Minghao says.

“Same,” Bambam says. “Except I shook my ass twice. Several times.”

“But we need to keep protesting. I mean, we all _knew_ that going into this, right?” Winwin looks around. “We all knew we were sticking our necks out-”

“You’re the only one here who doesn’t have a pending disciplinary case, Winwin.” Jungkook says tensely.

“Check your privilege.” Yugyeom mutters.

Winwin frowns. “But Bambam also doesn’t-”

“Mr. Hwang caught him pole dancing on a street sign.” Yugyeom rolls his eyes at the memory.

“There’s nothing inappropriate about pole dancing!” Bambam whines. “I wasn’t even accepting money-”

“But what about Seokmin? And Jaehyun?” Winwin frowns at his roommate.

“Oh.” Seokmin’s face goes completely red.

“Our calc prof caught us making out in the classroom.” Jaehyun shrugs.

Winwin drops an Oreo ball onto the table. “What.”

“It was before class! No one else was there!” Seokmin says, diving to pluck the Oreo ball off the picnic table. He pops it into his mouth.

“Or so we thought.”

“Wait, wait, what the hell is going on?” Winwin rubs his temples. “You and Seokmin…?”

“It was a moment of weakness.” Jaehyun admits.

“I think it was pretty great.” Seokmin shrugs, mouth full of half-chewed up Oreo balls.

“Really not worth the disciplinary case.” Jaehyun says.

“Oh, yeah, not worth that.” Seokmin agrees.

Winwin takes a deep breath, frowning at Jaehyun’s unreadable expression. “Well, anyway, I had Mr. Hwang move Yuta’s disciplinary case to me. So we’re all even-”

“ _What_!”

“You mean you had no case,” Jungkook frowns, trying to comprehend the logic of it all. “And you fucking _asked_ for one?!”

“I mean, it would’ve been given to me anyway, Yuta’s not the one who planned the protest last Friday-”

“You were free!” Bambam throws a crumpled-up tissue at Winwin.

“What’s _wrong_ with you?”

“I had to come clean, okay!” Winwin folds his arms. “Yuta didn’t do anything-”

“Seriously, how great is this guy’s dick?” Jaehyun rolls his eyes.

“ _Dick Energy_.” Bambam gasps under his breath.

“I think you spend too much time with him.” Mingyu notes quietly. 

“Not that we can tell you who to hang out with,” Minghao says.

“But you hardly hang out with _us_ anymore.” Seokmin pouts.

“I was with you guys just last Friday!” Winwin groans. “ _Remember_? When we were all at the _protest_? That we all planned _together_?”

“I miss the old Winwin.” Yugyeom says.

“Yeah.” Jaehyun agrees.

“Pre-woke Winwin.” Bambam says.

“What, you don’t want me to fight for _all_ of us?” Winwin stands up, throwing his hands up in irritation. “Am I supposed to just sit around while people like Mr. Hwang pick on my friends?”

“I mean, you can be angry,” Mingyu says as gently as he can. “But you don’t have to _do_ something about it-”

“You’re not making any sense! _You’re_ the one who kept holding these dumb meetings to plan _what we should do_ about this whole thing in the first place!” Winwin steps out of the table, thinks for a moment, then takes an Oreo ball. “I don’t know about you guys, but _I’m_ not gonna quit. Even if I’m the last person sticking my neck out for every single one of us.”

Winwin stuffs the Oreo ball angrily into his mouth before storming off to get his bike.

“Winwin! Wait!” Mingyu stands up, but Winwin’s already pedaling out of earshot.

“Give up, man, it’s hopeless.” Jungkook says.

“Hoookay…” Bambam says in a low voice. “Am I the only one who finds Woke Winwin kinda… _very_ hot?”

“Nope.” Jaehyun says, lifting his eyebrows at himself.

“Woke Winwin is _very_ hot.” Minghao says.

“Very very hot.” Seokmin agrees.

“Freedom Fighter’s a lucky bitch.” Yugyeom mutters, ignoring Jungkook nudging him with his elbow.

“But _guys_ ,” Mingyu groans, slumping dramatically over the box of Oreo balls as he pops one into his mouth. “We can’t just let him dig himself deeper like this!”

Mingyu looks up as he chews thoughtfully on his Oreo ball. His eyes glint in the noontime sun.

“This is all Nakamoto Yuta’s fault.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Mr. Hwang’s assistant is beautiful queen and patron saint of gays, Miss Nana of After School & Orange Caramel  
> 2\. The cockroach is named Chonlo


	9. Limitless (Japanese Ver.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “But maybe you want to break Winwin and Yuta up because you want Winwin for yourself?”
> 
> “It’s for the greater good.” Jaehyun insists.
> 
> “Your crush on your roommate isn’t the greater good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So um, sexy chapter warning? The dialogue is important, as always, but sexy things are also happening, so if you’re not into that, skip until the **** (just crtl+F for it)
> 
> I'm changing the Rating to Mature bec of Yuwin's mutual horniness

“Where’s your roommate?” Yuta leans against the doorway like there’s a glass wall between him and Winwin’s dorm room.

“Out on a date, I think. He always has sex on the first date, so he’ll be out all night.” Winwin shrugs his jacket off. He stops, turns around halfway, and laughs at the silly way Yuta’s scuffing his toe against the doorframe. “Yuta.”

“Mm-hm?” Yuta lifts his eyebrows innocently.

“Come in,” Winwin reaches out and pulls Yuta into the room, but Yuta’s feet seem glued to place. “I promise there are no cockroaches to step on here.”

Yuta shudders. “Please don’t bring that up-”

Winwin tugs harder, and Yuta stumbles into his arms. The door slams after Yuta, leaving them with the sound of nothing but each other’s breathing.

“Okay, I won’t.” Winwin says softly against Yuta’s cheek.

Breathing? Yuta’s not breathing. “W- Winwin?”

“Mm-hm?”

“W- Why don’t we go out?” Yuta suggests in a shaky voice.

Winwin holds Yuta’s shoulders at an arm’s length. “Nakamoto Yuta, what’s up with you?”

“Nothing.” Yuta says, but his left eye twitches.

Winwin laughs and pulls him into a tight embrace, swinging him around. Winwin stops, resting his face against Yuta’s. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Can we sit down?”

“Sure.”

Winwin sits back against his headboard, while Yuta perches at the far corner, barely touching his ass to the bedcover.

“Can you please tell me-”

“Why’d you invite me to your room?” Yuta blurts out.

Winwin laughs and takes Yuta’s hand in between his. “Hey, relax,” He kneads Yuta’s palm slowly. “We don’t have to have sex if you don’t want to.”

Yuta chokes on thin air. “I- I’m not- That’s not what I-”

“Do you want to?” Winwin asks.

“Yes.” Yuta doesn’t stop himself from adding, “So much.”

Winwin’s mouth curls up into a smile as he leads Yuta into his lap. “Well that wasn’t so hard to say, was it?”

Yuta braces his hands against the headboard. “My pride’s taken enough hits from you, don’t you think?”

Winwin smacks Yuta’s ass gently. “I’m sure it can take more.”

Yuta groans when Winwin pulls him down onto his lap – _Yuta stop acting like a virgin it’s_ not _cute_ , he tells himself internally. _Stop making such a fucking fool of yourself_.

Yuta ignores himself and starts tugging at the hem of Winwin’s shirt, whining softly. Winwin laughs, kissing Yuta on the nose before tugging his shirt off.

“Wow.”

Winwin laughs. “ _Wow_?”

Yuta feels his face getting warm – _Stop this, Yuta, STOP ACTING LIKE A FUCKING IDIOT_. He pulls his own shirt off just to have those few seconds where he can bury his face shamefully in his crumpled-up t-shirt.

Winwin’s hands run down Yuta’s sides. “Wow.”

“You don’t have to humor me-”

“How’d you get this fit from shouting into a megaphone?” Winwin laughs, holding Yuta close against his body. “Or was it from running away from the police-”

“Bitch.” Yuta smacks his arm. “I used to be part of the swimming varsity.”

“Really?” Winwin traces lines down Yuta’s back with his fingers. “Why is this the first I’m hearing of this?”

“I was a freshman – you weren’t here yet,” Yuta says, arching his back when Winwin’s fingers reach the base of his spine. “That feels good.”

“It’s supposed to relieve stress.” Winwin says, running his fingers down Yuta’s back again. Yuta’s entire body tenses every time Winwin’s breath hits his skin. “Doesn’t seem to be working, though.”

“You stress me out.” Yuta admits, his eyes fluttering shut as Winwin kisses his jawline.

“Sorry about that.” Winwin mutters without an ounce of sincerity – _When did he get so fucking rude?_ – as he pushes Yuta flat onto his back. Winwin settles on top of him, cocking his head to one side innocently. “What can I do to stress you out less?”

Yuta glares into his eyes. “Suck me dry.”

“Sure.” Winwin gets started on Yuta’s zipper, pressing open-mouthed kisses to the base of Yuta’s stomach as he does. Winwin grabs the base of Yuta’s cock – it’s hard, it’s been hard since Winwin had whispered into Yuta’s ear that Jaehyun’s going to be out all evening, would he like to come back to Winwin’s dorm?

“Winwin, please,” Yuta begs, when Winwin wraps his mouth around Yuta’s dick. He doesn’t know what he’s begging for, seeing as he’s getting everything he wanted, but he whines on anyway, “ _Please_.”

Winwin shoots him an irritated look before swallowing around Yuta’s cock.

Yuta cries out, then frowns when one of Winwin’s hands clamps over his mouth.

Winwin removes his mouth with a wet little pop, then whispers, “Don’t be loud, we’re not allowed to have guests over. And the walls are thin…”

Yuta nods, biting down on one of his hands to shut himself up while Winwin goes back to giving him the best head he’s ever had. _Or maybe it’s the best because it’s Winwin_.

Yuta’s vision’s starting to get spotty with pleasure when he hears this distant chime, like there’s a bell going off two rooms away. _Maybe something_ is _happening two rooms away_ , Yuta figures.

Yuta suddenly feels cold, then he realizes Winwin’s standing by the bed, with his phone to his ear, speaking too quickly and quietly for him to understand.

“…Mama it’s not like that!” Winwin raises his voice a little, then lowers it again to say, “I’m sorry, Mama, I didn’t mean to shout.”

Yuta lifts himself up onto his forearms, frowning up at Winwin.

“I can handle this on my own, Mama. No, don’t worry, I won’t get kicked out.” Winwin rubs his temples. “It’s not because of my friends – No, Papa doesn’t need to fly here, please tell him it’s okay- Yes, Mama, it’s nothing like that. Everything is okay.”

Winwin runs a hand through his hair while listening to his mother chide him for a full three minutes without stopping for breath. “…Yes. Yes, Mama. I love you too. Goodbye.”

Winwin drops his phone onto his bedside table, then sinks onto the bed.

Yuta sits up, putting an arm gingerly around Winwin’s shoulders. He’s not sure what he ought to do – his pants are still pulled down to his knees and he’s still a few inches away from coming and his mind is a horny mess – but Winwin leans back into his embrace, so that’s good.

“What was that about?” Yuta asks.

“Mr. Hwang called my parents.” Winwin gives him a half-smile. “I guess that means you’re off the hook.”

“What?” Yuta frowns. “But what did they say? Are they angry?”

“The university’s discipline officer called them in the middle of dinner to tell them I’m some kind of _rebel fighter_ , of course they’re angry.”

Yuta tries not laugh at Mr. Hwang’s choice of words. “But you told them it’s not true.”

“Yeah.” Winwin heaves a sigh. “Mama sort of believes me, but Papa’s probably too angry to think straight.”

“Shit.” Yuta makes a face. “I’m sorry, Winwin.”

“Why? Is it _your_ fault?” Winwin’s mouth slides into a smirk. “Did you _make_ me do it?”

“Kind of?”

“You really think too much of yourself, Nakamoto,” Winwin laughs, pushing Yuta flat onto his back again.

Yuta gasps for air, winded when he hits the bedcover. “But you’d never have-”

“ _Shhh_ ,” Winwin shoves three fingers into Yuta’s mouth to shut him up. “The walls are thin.”

Yuta frowns, about to protest, then Winwin closes his mouth around Yuta’s dick again and all words leave Yuta’s mind.

****

“Yuta’s not a bad person… he’s just… you know, not the best person?” Taeyong looks up at the ceiling like he’s searching it for answers. “He’s a person. That’s it. An ordinary person.”

Jaehyun rolls his eyes as he pours them both another shot. “You don’t need to sugarcoat it for me.”

“He’s not _bad_!” Taeyong insists, quickly clinking his shot glass against Jaehyun’s before gulping it down. “I mean, he’s not an angel, but he’s not Satan himself – you get me?”

“So he’s just one of the lesser demons?” Jaehyun shudders as the shot goes down. “That’s comforting.”

“I’m not- What’s your deal with him anyway? Why don’t you want him dating your friend?” Taeyong frowns, then his eyes pop wide open like a fish. “Oh my god, do _you_ like Winwin too?”

Jaehyun laughs dryly before taking a swig directly from the bottle.

“Does Winwin know? Does Yuta know?” Taeyong fidgets with the scratches on his shot glass. “How long have you liked him?... While we were dating-”

“HA!” Jaehyun nearly knocks over an empty bottle as he points an accusatory finger at Taeyong. “FINALLY! YOU ADMITTED WE WERE DATING!”

“Um…” Taeyong buries his face in his hands. “Fuck.”

“It took three pity fucks and five awkward-as-fuck dates but YOU FINALLY ADMITTED IT! I WIN!” Jaehyun cheers, before slumping in his seat and burying _his_ face in his hands. “But at what cost…”

“There, there,” Taeyong pats Jaehyun’s shoulder gingerly. He’s trying very hard not to laugh, but Jaehyun looks so cute when he’s all flustered like this.

“Don’t fucking touch me.”

Taeyong places his hands at his sides with military promptness. “Okay, so uh, it’s not my place to say this, but-”

“Then don’t say anything.” Jaehyun snaps, before drowning his sorrows in the rest of the soju in the bottle.

Taeyong nods in complete silence, but he’s only able to keep it up for about a minute. “But maybe you want to break Winwin and Yuta up because you want Winwin for yourself?”

“It’s for the greater good.” Jaehyun insists.

“Your crush on your roommate isn’t the greater good.”

“Shut up.” Jaehyun runs his hands through his hair agitatedly. “Oh god I told Winwin I’d be back _tomorrow morning_.”

Taeyong chuckles, “You were really planning to sleep with me _again_?”

“Only if you didn’t admit we dated, which you did, so I’m good now.” Jaehyun scrambles to get his things together. “No way am I letting them go at in _our_ room. Bye, Yong.”

“Bye, Jae.” Taeyong gives him a weak little wave. “Text me when you get home.”

 

Mingyu’s hand is cramping up from drawing this same line over and over again, but it keeps ending up slightly wrong. He’s having a crappy night, and he knows it.

It’s all Nakamoto Yuta’s fault.

“You nearly done?” Minghao asks, sitting up on his bed, towel-drying his hair.

“Why? Do you need me to turn off the light?” Mingyu asks, one hand already on the light switch.

“No, no, it’s fine, I was just asking cause it’s late.” Minghao assures him. “Besides, you’ll wreck your eyes drawing in the dark.”

“My eyes are already wrecked. You sure you can sleep with the light on?” Mingyu asks.

“Yeah.” Minghao hangs his towel on the ladder of their bunk bed. “Not to be insensitive, but you should sleep soon.”

“I know.” Mingyu picks up his stylus, then puts it down again. “What are we doing to do about Nakamoto Yuta?”

There’s a rustle as Minghao leans over the edge of his bed to frown down at Mingyu. “Gyu…”

“I mean, I don’t hate him or anything, but all of this is his fault! Well, not Mr. Hwang’s shit, but like, everything with Winwin – He _changed_ Winwin and I don’t like it!”

“Maybe Winwin was already like that before, but we just didn’t notice-”

“We were with him _every single day_ ,” Mingyu squeaks. “He wasn’t like this before!”

“Even if he _did_ change, he’s still Winwin-”

“But he’s in _so_ much trouble, what if Mr. Hwang called his parents? Oh my god,” Mingyu slumps down in his computer chair. “Remember we promised his mom we’d keep him out of trouble? _REMEMBER?_ ”

“Gyu, calm down,” Minghao’s already kicking his blanket off.

“Oh my god.” Mingyu mutters under his breath, spinning around in his chair. “Oh my god oh my god oh my god…”

Minghao jumps down from his bed, landing in a pretty cool pose that Mingyu’s too busy panicking to appreciate.

“Gyu,” Minghao gently slides the stylus out of Mingyu’s hand and places it carefully beside Mingyu’s tablet. “Deep breaths.”

Mingyu sucks in air like an industrial vacuum. “Deep breaths, yeah.”

“We’re not going to do anything about Yuta.” Minghao says firmly, ignoring Mingyu’s squeaks of protest. “Because Winwin hasn’t asked for our help, and he actually seems really happy with him.”

“But- Mr. Hwang-”

“Mr. Hwang can eat my whole ass.” Minghao sits at the edge of Mingyu’s bed. “It’s not our job to keep Winwin out of trouble. He’s an adult. He’s free to fuck up on his own, and if he needs us, he’ll let us know.”

Mingyu chews on his lower lip.

“Besides, we’ve got problems of our own, remember?” Minghao chuckles, kicking Mingyu in his computer chair gently. Mingyu hits the wall behind him, still pouting. “Is your mom coming to the disciplinary hearing on Tuesday?”

“Mom _and_ Dad.” Mingyu groans.

“Great! We’ll have a laywer _and_ your Dad!” Minghao claps his hands together, laughing mostly to himself.

Mingyu sighs, and cracks a little smile. His smile fades quickly. “But what do we do about Winwin?”

“Nothing.” Minghao folds his hands sagely in his lap. “I’m sure _Jaehyun_ ’s got that covered.”

“What… do you mean?”

 

Winwin doesn’t know how he’s going to get Yuta out of the room before Jaehyun gets home, because Yuta’s sleeping so peacefully in his arms, Winwin would have to be a real asshole to kick him out like this.

Yuta mumbles something in his sleep, and Winwin kisses him on the forehead. “Shh,”

Winwin doesn’t know what he’s going to do when his father inevitably shows up for the disciplinary case hearing. It’s not that his dad’s unreasonable – he just gets _really_ angry when he does.

“Winwin?” Yuta’s voice is soft, and mostly breath against Winwin’s chest.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

Winwin laughs. “I know. You said it like a million times awhile ago.”

“That was my dick talking.” Yuta frowns, his eyes still shut as he snuggles up against Winwin. “This is me talking now. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Winwin squeezes Yuta in his arms, even if one of them is number from Yuta sleeping on it.

“I just wanted to-”

A key clicks in the lock, and the door swings open before either of them can do anything but pull the blanket over themselves.

“Jaehyun!” Winwin sits up, trying to disguise Yuta under a pillow and a stuffed Stitch toy. “You’re back early. What happened-”

“Is that Nakamoto?” Jaehyun narrows his eyes at Winwin’s bed, clearly in a sour, tipsy mood.

“Uh…” Winwin scrambles out of bed, glad to have thought of putting his boxers back on before falling asleep. “Look, I know we made an agreement about bringing people home, but-”

“Rules are rules.” Jaehyun stops the door from closing with his foot. “Nakamoto, out.”

“Give him a few minutes to get dressed.” Winwin says sharply, then he takes a deep breath and adds, “Please.”

“Fine.”

Jaehyun and Winwin – in his boxers but no longer giving any fucks, so it seems – stand in the hallway while Yuta scrambles back into his clothes.

“It won’t happen again.” Winwin says.

“It’d better not.” Jaehyun says.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Jaehyun says, before he can stop himself. “Just don’t do it again.”

“I won’t.”

The door opens a crack, and Yuta peeks out. His hair’s a mess, but at least his clothes are all facing the right way. “…Hi.”

Jaehyun doesn’t look at him, he just cocks his head in the general direction of the hallway. “Go on.”

“Yeah.” Yuta lowers his head and shuffles out of the room. “Sorry.”

Winwin grabs him by the arm as he passes. He plants a kiss on Yuta’s cheek. “Text me when you get home.”

Yuta blinks at him. “Uh, yeah, I will. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Jaehyun rolls his eyes. Then he remembers Taeyong, and pulls his phone out of his pocket to send a quick text.

> Jae: _Home._
> 
> Yong: _Ok_
> 
> Yong: _Me too ☒_
> 
> Yong: _Oh where did the emoji go_

Jaehyun smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew i did a double update!! last 2 chapters going ✈up next week!!! Thanks to everyone who's enjoyed this wild ride so far, but it's nearly over :c


	10. Bboom Bboom (Japanese Ver.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We’re here for moral support.” Winwin beams at Mingyu and Minghao. 
> 
> “Yup. Support.” Jaehyun says. 
> 
> “SUPPORT!” Seokmin cheers, pumping two thumbs up in the air.
> 
> “We’ll be your jockstrap in these trying times.” Bambam puts a hand on Mingyu’s shoulder.
> 
> Mingyu brushes Bambam’s hand off, making a face.

“You guys realize that none of you are going to be allowed inside during the hearing?” Mingyu asks, frowning at his friends, who are gathered around the entrance to the admin building.

“Yeah.” Jungkook says.

“Duh.” Yugyeom shrugs.

“We’re here for moral support.” Winwin beams at him and Minghao.

“Yup. Support.” Jaehyun says.

“SUPPORT!” Seokmin cheers, pumping two thumbs up in the air.

“We’ll be your jockstrap in these trying times.” Bambam puts a hand on Mingyu’s shoulder.

Mingyu brushes Bambam’s hand off, making a face.

“Thanks, guys.” Minghao says, smiling. He nudges Mingyu with his elbow. “We should go, our parents are already inside.”

“Our parents- _What_?” Mingyu’s eyes widen as he breaks into a sweat.

“Come on,” Minghao links their arms, guiding Mingyu into the admin building. He waves at their friends. “See you guys later.”

“See ya!”

“FIGHTINNNGGG!”

“SUPPOOOORT!”

The other six lower the supportive banners they’d made out of the backs of old test papers.

“So, what now?” Jaehyun asks.

“We wait for _our_ trial?” Seokmin suggests.

 “It’s just a hearing, it’s not like they can jail us or anything,” Jungkook says, almost defensively.

“When’s your trial?” Yugyeom asks Bambam.

“Thursday. You?” Bambam wiggles his shoulders.

“Next Tuesday.” Yugyeom grins.

“Aw, nice.”

“Are we really just going to stand here comparing hearing schedules?” Jaehyun groans.

“Yeah, I guess.” Jungkook shrugs, leaning against the wall of the building. Yugyeom snuggles up to him, snaking an arm around Jungkook’s shoulders. “When’s yours?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Ah, fuck. Are your parents coming?” Jungkook asks, leaning his head against Yugyeom’s shoulder.

“Yeah.” Jaehyun glances nervously at Winwin, who’s laughing at something Seokmin just said. “What about you, Winwin?”

“Next Friday.” Winwin says.

“Are your parents coming?” Jaehyun asks.

“Just my-” Winwin cuts himself off, frowning as a group of distinguished-looking men and women alight from a chain of expensive cars. “Those wouldn’t happen to be Mingyu or Minghao’s parents, would they?”

“No, those people look too rich.” Seokmin says.

“Too _old_.” Bambam adds.

“Their parents are already inside.” Yugyeom says irritably.

The men and women barely glance at them before storming up the steps into the admin building.

“They look pissed,” Jungkook whispers in a very loud voice.

“Wonder who they are.”

They’re not done being confused when another set of expensive cars rolls into the parking lot. One of the vans bears the seal of the Higher Education Board.

The boys exchange glances, trying to blend into the walls of the building as ten people from the Education Board storm up the stairs and into the admin building.

“ _This_ is going to be good.” Jungkook smirks.

 

Mingyu can’t look at either of his parents, but they’d decided to sit on either side of him, so he can only look across the conference room table at Mr. Hwang, who’s starting to get red in the face trying to get around Mingyu’s mom’s arguments.

“…but in Section 31 of the School Code,” Mingyu mom’s hands hit the surface of the table again. “It says that all students are granted the right to…”

Mingyu’s stopped listening. When his mom gets into this kind of mood, there’s no stopping her, really. They’re similar that way.

A knock on the door cuts Mingyu’s mom off. The whole room turns to the door, slightly shocked and very relieved. Mr. Hwang’s assistant peeks in. “Ah, sorry to interrupt, ma’ams and sirs, but-”

Mr. Hwang’s face goes violet from a mix of irritation and embarrassment. “Miss Im, what could _possibly_ -”

“Dr. Kim, Dr. Park, Dr. Song, Mr. Song, and Dr. Jung from the Board of Directors are here-”

“ _What_?”

“-wait, sir, I’m not done.” Ms. Im smiles sweetly, but it’s a mocking kind of smile. “A handful of representatives from the Education Board are here as well. Ten representatives, actually. So, two handfuls?”

Mr. Hwang’s face blanches of all color so fast Minghao can hardly stifle a snort. His father gives him a sharp look, but Minghao’s mom is also stifling a grin.

“W- When did they arrive? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Mr. Hwang stands up so quickly his seat clatters over behind him. He looks back at Mingyu, Minghao, and their parents nervously, then stammers out a, “Y- You’ll have to excuse me, I c- can’t keep these other guests w- waiting.”

“Take all the time you need, Mr. Hwang.” Mingyu’s mom says, with a wide smile.

Everyone releases a deep breath when the door slams shut behind Mr. Hwang.

Mingyu’s mom swats her son with the folder of school codes she’s brought with her. “Gosh!”

“Sorry, Mom.” Mingyu pouts. “But it’s not my fault-!”

“That’s the worst part.” Mingyu’s mom groans. “You don’t even _have_ a boyfriend-”

“Honey.” Mingyu’s dad clears his throat, nodding self-consciously in the direction of Minghao and his family.

“Oh.” Mingyu’s mom chuckles at herself. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Minghao’s mom waves a hand dismissively. “I also got really excited when I heard Hao was seeing someone.”

Mingyu’s mom is about to reply when the door opens again. Mr. Hwang’s assistant is peeking in the door again, but her smile is sincere this time. “I’m _so_ sorry to tell you guys that this hearing has to be postponed until further notice.”

“What? Until when?” Minghao’s father asks.

“Well,” Ms. Im glances out the hallway before stepping into the room, closing the door gently behind her. “You didn’t hear this from me, but it seems Mr. Hwang and his policy are in… _hot water_ at the moment.”

“So…?” Mingyu’s mom asks, looking hopeful.

“So this hearing may never be rescheduled at all.” Ms. Im says, giving Mingyu’s mom a wink.

Mingyu’s mom blushes.

“That’s wonderful news!” Minghao’s father claps his hands together.

“Not for Mr. Hwang,” Minghao and his mother say at once, before looking at each other and laughing.

 

“Miss Im!” Mingyu jogs after her a few steps, leaving his parents to laugh and joke with Minghao’s parents as they walk to the parking lot.

The assistant turns around. “Yes?”

“Who- Why did the board people all come today?” Mingyu frowns. “Did they mention anything-”

“Well, _someone_ did call them a few weeks ago when this all started,” Ms. Im says, feigning innocence. “But they didn’t seem to notice until an American news company wrote an article about the viral video of some protesting college kids… And they published the name of the university.”

“ _Ooh_.” Mingyu flinches. “The board must have hated that.”

“I guess so, if they’re willing to cut their golfing session or whatever it was they were doing to come here today,” Ms. Im shrugs.

“ _Miss Im_!” Mingyu gasps.

“I’m just saying,” Ms. Im shrugs. “Anyway, you should catch up to class.”

“Thanks, Miss Im.”

“Thank _you_ ,” Ms. Im smiles. “I don’t know if you kids realize how much you’ve actually done.”

 

Yuta’s listening to Winwin excitedly recount everything Mr. Hwang’s assistant – Yuta loves her – had told his friends. Winwin’s so happy, he’s skipping every other step down the stairs– Oh, Yuta _loves_ him.

“…so it looks like they’re not going to change the policy, they’re just gonna stop enforcing it,” Winwin swings their intertwined hands.

“That’s wonderful,” Yuta says, not even bothering to look around before pecking Winwin on the lips.

“ _Excuse me_ ,” A strange woman’s voice asks, in English. “ _Are you Youta Nakamotoh_?”

Yuta drops Winwin’s hand. “ _Who are you?_ ”

“ _I’m…_ ” The Caucasian woman looks at her companions – one of which is carrying a camera while the other is carrying a fluffy little mic. “ _We’re from the American news company _____. We were wondering if you would let us interview you about the_ -”

“ _The protest?_ ” Yuta asks, stepping in front of Winwin defensively.

“ _Yes_.”

Winwin pokes Yuta gently in the ribs. He suddenly regrets not paying enough attention in English class, but it had never been that important to him before. “What do they want?” He whispers.

Yuta pauses before answering him. He could lie to Winwin – _Who are you kidding, Nakamoto, you can’t lie to him_. “They want to talk to me about the protest.”

“Why? You weren’t even there.”

“I think… they think _I_ started it.”

“Tell them they’re wrong.”

“I…” Yuta couldn’t throw Winwin to the wolves like that, he just couldn’t. He turns to the American reporters and says in English, “ _I’m sorry, I’m not the person you’re looking for_.”

“ _No, we were talking about him_ ,” The reporter gestures towards Winwin. “ _Aren’t you Youta Nakamotoh?”_

Winwin frowns, then turns to Yuta with a completely bewildered look, then looks back at the reporter and says, “ _No…?_ ”

“ _But you were the one in the video, weren’t you?_ ” The woman holding the camera asks. “ _You were one of the organizers?_ ”

“ _I was_ …” Winwin looks to Yuta for help.

Yuta figures he could protect Winwin and explain to the reporters that they’ve got it all wrong, and that they don’t have any business bothering university students, but Winwin’s looking at him like _that_ and Yuta just can’t refuse him. He turns to the reporters and straightens up, saying, “ _He organized the whole protest, not me_.”

“ _But_ …” The first reporter frowns.

“ _I am Na- Yuta Nakamoto_.” Yuta says, gesturing to himself. How slow can these reporters be? “ _He is D- Sicheng Dong. He was the… He planned the whole protest_.”

“ _Me and my friends_.” Winwin adds proudly.

“ _Really?_ ” The reporter turns to Winwin with a different, more tender expression. “ _That was very bold of you._ ”

Winwin looks to Yuta for help.

“She says you were uh, brave.” Yuta translates.

“Oh.” Winwin beams at the reporter. “ _Thank you_.”

“ _What made you decide to protest in that manner? It was one of the more creative protests I’ve ever seen,_ ” The reporter says, smiling at Winwin, who smiles back even though he’s getting lost.

“Uh…” Winwin nudges Yuta. “Help me please.”

“ _Many of W- Sicheng’s friends have been unfairly um… cased? They’ve been unfairly disciplined for doing ordinary things, like holding hands with their boyfriends – they’re also boys, they’re gay,_ ” Yuta explains bluntly. “ _W- Sicheng couldn’t stand it, so he’s been trying to protest for almost a few months now to make the uh, discipline officer change the policy._ ”

The reporter nods, so Yuta hopes she understands. Winwin hasn’t nodded in over a minute, but he’s just staring at Yuta with this adoring look that has Yuta feeling more overconfident than usual.

“ _The other protests didn’t work, so Sicheng really worked… he tried to find a new way to do it. So he asked his friends, who are mostly artists and performers,_ ” Yuta goes on, with the airs of someone who’s lived in America for four years. “ _And they made a protest that was completely their own, and the whole LGBT community of the university joined in without even being invited, because his idea was…”_ Yuta stops and glances at Winwin for only a second, catching Winwin’s easy, confused smile. “ _His idea was just as beautiful and powerful as he is._ ”

Yuta sees a car rolling to a stop by the sidewalk nearby. It’s Mr. Hwang’s. _Shit_.

“ _That’s so, so inspiring_.” The reporter says, oblivious of the purple-faced man currently stomping towards them.

Winwin grabs Yuta’s wrist urgently. “Yuta, Mr. Hwang-”

“I know.”

“ _Is something the matter_?” The reporter asks.

“ _STOP!_ ” Mr. Hwang shoves the camera gracelessly to the side. “ _This is a school! You are not allowed here!_ ”

While the camerawoman recovers, the reporter starts arguing with Mr. Hwang about some permit or the other.

Winwin squeezes Yuta’s wrist. “Let’s go.”

“Yeah.” Yuta edges away from the mess, only tapping the camerawoman on the shoulder to tell her, “ _He’s the one who made the policy. Try to interview him._ ”

Yuta grabs Winwin’s hand and they run off, ignoring Mr. Hwang shouting after them in a confused mix of English and Korean.

 

They stumble to a stop behind the library, panting and laughing at each other’s red faces.

“Oh god, I haven’t run that much in _years_ ,” Winwin gasps out between pants, bent over, hands on his knees for support.

“I haven’t spoken that much English _ever_!” Yuta sits down on the pavement and laughs as he wheezes for air.

Winwin kneels next to him, tilting Yuta’s chin up to face him. “That was amazing.”

“I don’t even know if half the things I was saying were even right,” Yuta laughs.

“I’m sure they were.” Winwin kisses him tenderly, cradling Yuta’s chin in his hands. “Or whatever, fuck the American news company. They couldn’t even hire a translator? Cheap.”

“C’mon, Winwin, we kind of owe them. A little. You know what, you’re right, fuck them.” Yuta laughs as he reaches out for Winwin’s waist. Yuta’s head aches from having to speak English for how many minutes straight without any idiot cards, but Winwin’s kisses seem to be able to fix anything.

“I’m so proud of you.” Yuta whispers, holding Winwin close to him.

“I’m so proud of you too,” Winwin whispers, giggling because there’s no one hanging out behind the library to hear them, but he carries on whispering anyway. “ _Youtah Nakamotoh_.”

Yuta leans forward and kisses Winwin’s smile, convinced the latter could single-handedly bring world peace and end world hunger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about all the italicized parts, I didn't know how to gracefully show that they're speaking EnGLiSh all of a sudden, haha
> 
> Anyway, that's pretty much it for the plot - next week's chapter is going to be a whole shit-ton of fluff and Resolution, fluff without plot? Anyway, thanks to everyone who's stuck this fic out until the end, I hope you guys liked it! 
> 
> Hit me up on twitter [@halp_rice](https://twitter.com/halp_rice?lang=en), i'm super friendly! lmao


	11. SHINE (Japanese Ver.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Aren’t there any subtitles?” Winwin asks.
> 
> “Nope.” Taeil laughs. 
> 
> “Then what the hell is this?” Winwin frowns.

“Okay, okay, listen up, homos!” Mingyu claps two tambourines together aggressively. “SHUT UP!”

When nobody minds him, Minghao smashes an empty bottle of soju against the wall. The entire karaoke room falls silent.

“Thanks… Hao.” Mingyu kicks the broken glass under the couch carefully. “Anyway, we’re all such a fucking mess we forgot to do the toasts!”

“ _Toast_?” Jungkook’s face screws into a scowl. He’s still a little sweaty from his competition earlier, but Yugyeom doesn’t seem to mind, wearing Jungkook’s freshly reinstated varsity jacket and snuggled up against Jungkook’s side.

“We didn’t bring any bread.” Seokmin says.

“Seokmin, _honey_ ,” Jaehyun rolls his eyes.

“It was a joke.” Seokmin insists, while the entire room groans. “I’m not _that_ stupid! I was joking! Guys!”

“GUYS!” Mingyu bangs his two tambourines together again, until Bambam reaches over and snatches them from him.

“Mingyu, my dude, _please_ ,” Bambam lowers the tambourines onto the overcrowded couch. “My last brain cell will not survive if you keep doing that.”

“What brain cell?” Yugyeom asks, narrowing his eyes.

“Shut up, Yugyeom, everyone knows you have a dick where other people have a brain.” Bambam tries to kick Yugyeom, but the latter dodges out of the way and into Jungkook’s lap.

“That was such an elaborate comeback, it doesn’t even make sense.” Jungkook frowns.

“I love you too, babe,” Yugyeom kisses Jungkook before Mingyu swats them both with his empty hands.

“Hey! Stop making single people uncomfortable!” Mingyu grumbles.

“Okay, _Mr. Hwang_.”

Mingyu’s entire face goes red while everyone in the room laughs mercilessly at him. “Guys, guys _please_!”

Minghao picks up another empty soju bottle, but the door swings open before he can smash it.

“Winwin!” Minghao lowers the bottle back onto the table. “You made it!”

Winwin gives Minghao a quick arm-hug. “Hey. Sorry I’m late, we uh…” He glances back at Yuta, who’s standing in the doorway behind him. “We don’t have a good excuse, haha.”

“Come in, Yuta!” Mingyu says with a friendly gesture. Jaehyun lifts an eyebrow at him but says nothing.

“It’s okay, I was just dropping Winwin off,” Yuta says, scuffing his sneakers on the doorframe.

“Nah, come in!” Mingyu says. “Any boyfriend of a friend of ours is also our-”

“-Boyfriend?” Bambam asks, checking Yuta out with reckless abandon.

“Sorry, Bam, I don’t _share_ ,” Winwin smirks at him, wrapping one arm around Yuta’s neck to drag him into the karaoke room.

“R-Really, my roommates are probably waiting for me-”

“Oh, come on.” Mingyu says. “Just stay for a little while.”

“We’re here to celebrate Mr. Hwang dropping all of our cases,” Jaehyun explains.

“And Mr. Hwang losing his fucking job!” Seokmin cheers, holding up a bottle. Everyone finds their own and clinks it against his.

Yuta looks at Winwin, who’s got a very serious look that says, _Stay_. Yuta sits down obediently at the end of the couch while Winwin makes one round hugging all his friends.

“Anyway, now that we’re all complete, I propose a toast to Winwin!” Mingyu hands two newly opened bottles of beer to Winwin and Yuta.

“I second the motion?” Yuta says.

Jaehyun says, glaring at Yuta for a moment, then smiling. Yuta heaves a sigh of relief as Jaehyun says, “I third the motion? Is that what you call it?”

“Yeah, thanks for everything man,” Jungkook says, going in to hug Winwin a second time.

“TO WINWIN, THE BADDEST BITCH WHO EVER LIVED!” Bambam announces, lifting his bottle. They all clink bottles then take a long swig.

“Aw, guys,” Winwin says, chewing on his lip. His eyes are starting to glisten in the flashing multicolored lights. “I love you guys.”

“One toast to Mingyu – we wouldn’t have been here without your balls!” Bambam announces.

“W- What?” Mingyu makes a face.

“Your Oreo balls!”

“Yeah, a toast to Mingyu, _King of Balls_!”

“Guys, please, be mature-” Jaehyun starts, before snorting and breaking into a full-out laugh.

“A TOAST TO THE KING OF BALLS, KING MINGYU!”

They clink their bottles together, but they can’t drink, because they’re all laughing too hard.

“Can we toast to Jungkook?” Yugyeom suggests, when they all catch their breath.

“Aw, gross, Yugyeom.”

“Get a fucking room.”

“He won second in the regional championship! _Silver_!” Yugyeom snarls at everyone else’s general direction. “The only silver you bitches have ever seen is the foil on top of instant ramen!”

“That’s such a specific burn that it doesn’t even make sense, babe,” Jungkook says, squeezing Yugyeom’s free hand.

“Shut up, babe.” Yugyeom lifts his bottle. “A toast to the bitchiest silver medalist alive, there’s a reason why you didn’t win gold.”

They clink bottles and cheer for “OUR ABOVE-AVERAGE WEIGHTLIFTER, JEON JUNGKOOK!”

“A toast for Yuta.” Mingyu suggests, and everyone frowns at him.

“If you hadn’t been so cute,” Seokmin explains. “Winwin would have never grown any balls.”

“Oreo balls?” Minghao suggests, snorting.

“Winwin would never have grown Oreo balls.” Bambam says in a serious voice.

“Oh fuck off, guys.” Winwin laughs, but he lifts his bottle anyway. “To Yuta.”

Winwin takes a quick sip, but takes advantage of the time everyone’s drinking to peck Yuta quickly on the cheek. “I love you.”

He gets hit in the knee with a flying tambourine.

“Stop making singles feel bad!” Mingyu whines.

“Maybe if you pulled your head out of your ass and dated Minghao, you wouldn’t be single.” Jaehyun mutters.

Minghao chokes on his beer, turning to cough at the wall.

Mingyu pats him on the back while he throws the other tambourine at Jaehyun. “Maybe I’d take your advice if you weren’t still screwing your ex like a sad little-”

“He’s not my ex anymore,” Jaehyun says offhandedly as he cracks open a new bottle. “We’re dating again.”

“What?” Seokmin looks surprised and crestfallen at once.

“Does he know this?” Mingyu asks. “Or is it another one-sided relation-”

“Oh, I _make sure_ he can’t forget.” Jaehyun says, before taking a long sip of beer. “Every day.”

“Ew!” Mingyu finds a third tambourine to throw at him.

Jaehyun laughs and dodges it, spilling a few drops of beer on the carpet.

“TO JAEHYUN, WHO HAS THE STAMINA OF A FUCKING _BULL_!” Bambam raises his bottle, and everyone cheers.

 

“Congrats,” Yuta says when Taeyong opens the apartment door.

“What?” Taeyong frowns, or as much as he can with a face mask on.

“You and Jaehyun?” Winwin suggests, propping his chin on Yuta’s shoulder.

“Oh, yeah, that.” Taeyong says, but he seems happy about it. “It’s been going on for a while, but like, thanks.”

“Winwin!” Taeil jumps up from where Yuta’s other roommates had been sitting around the couch, slowly clearing out a whole crate of beer. “Have you seen the video?”

“Video?” Winwin frowns, letting Taeil lead him to the rest of the group. Aside from the crate of beer, they’ve also got someone’s laptop in the middle of the coffee table, and it’s playing some video.

“Come on, sit down, we’ll restart it,” Kun pulls out a throw pillow for Winwin to sit on. He taps Johnny on the arm. “Restart the video.”

Johnny fumbles to leave the fullscreen, so Ten just rolls his eyes and says, “Let me do it, darling.”

Johnny’s entire face goes red as Ten climbs into his lap, leaning forward to click around on the laptop.

“There.” Ten puts the video back on fullscreen and hits play. He leans back into Johnny’s chest, opening his mouth to let Johnny feed him a peanut.

The title comes onscreen, but it’s English and it’s gone too fast for Winwin to read it.

“Aren’t there any subtitles?” Winwin asks.

“Nope.” Taeil laughs.

“Then what the hell is this?” Winwin frowns, as a woman’s voice starts narrating something too quickly for him to understand. The voice is vaguely familiar, though. Maybe she’s an actress he knows?

“Oh, _this_.” Yuta sits on the floor Winwin, wrapping his arms around Winwin’s waist like they’re on his bike. “Remember that reporter from a month ago?”

“Reporter?” Winwin frowns. “Ah, the American one?”

“Yeah. She made a short documentary about your protest.” Yuta grins, squeezing Winwin tightly. “I love saying that. _Your_ protest.”

“Shh, _some of us_ are trying to listen,” Ten hisses, launching a peanut in Yuta’s direction.

“Babe,” Johnny pinches Ten roughly on the thigh. “Don’t be a bitch.”

Ten scowls, but apologizes to Yuta anyway before settling back into Johnny’s arms and opening his mouth for another peanut.

Yuta doesn’t really care. He just likes seeing Winwin in the video – his boyfriend is quite possibly the handsomest man on earth, no one comes close, especially not when Winwin’s clearly passionate about something. And when he’s booty dancing to Big Bang.

“ _We were able to get an interview with Sicheng Dong, the student who organized the entire protest._ ”

Winwin’s ID photo appears in the corner of the video, but the person in the video itself is Yuta, captioned as _Shi-Cheng Dong, Student Activist Leader_.

Ten snorts. “Wow, Winwin, you sure look different in video.”

Winwin can’t reply, because he’s laughing silently into his knees.

“But you don’t look anything alike…” Taeil frowns.

“Jesus…” Johnny groans, but he breaks out laughing when the documentary shows a shaky cellphone clip from one of Yuta’s previous protests, still captioned as _Shi-Cheng Dong_.

“And these people wonder why everyone hates them.” Taeyong sighs, cracking himself open another bottle of beer.

“Well, _I_ think this “Shi-Cheng Dong” is very handsome,” Winwin says, turning partway to cup Yuta’s chin in his hand.

“I think Dong Sicheng’s more handsome.” Yuta smiles, clapping Winwin’s cheeks between his palms.

“Guys. Seriously.” Ten tries to throw another peanut, but Johnny stops him. “Get a room.”

“Sure.” Yuta gets up, dragging Winwin after him.

“No!” Johnny and Taeil shout. “Not _our_ room!”

“I have to move out of here, I have to move out of here, I have to move out…” Kun mutters under his breath, cracking two bottles of beer open.

“Fuck this fake news fake woke shit documentary,” Taeyong says, crawling forward to stop the video while the door to one of the rooms slams shut after Yuta and Winwin. “Let’s just watch _Lion King_.”

“Ah fuck.”

“Not _again_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been a shameless wrap-up epilogue chapter. *Oprah voice* FLUFF AND HAPPY ENDINGS FOR EVERYONE!!!! 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who liked this story! I love reading your comments and how much fun you had reading this garbage fire of a fic lmaoooo ♡ The 97 line boys are so chaotic, I don't know if I'll ever really be done with them so... yeah stay posted ♡♡♡
> 
> You can find me on twitter [@halp_rice](https://twitter.com/halp_rice), I always have a moment for our lord and savior Yuwin ahahhaHAHAHA


End file.
